WorkAHolic
by Tsubasa Kya
Summary: Ten years after the final battle, all Kagome does is work. When she strays from the path she usually takes, everything that she considers normal becomes askew. Stupid injured demons make life tolerable? Pish posh! InuYuYu xover HieiKag
1. Sad Existance

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha characters, though I am often tempted to string one or two from the ceiling fan in Hiei's living room. What the hey, it's not like anyone would notice anyway... it's so loaded with ink stains that a few blood stains would be overlooked. _

* * *

Chapter one: Sad Existance

There came a time when just a break from normality was a good thing. How many years had it been since she had completed the journey through the well? If she counted the coming month, then it would have been exactly ten years, and she—a young twenty-eight year old woman working two mismatched jobs with two degrees from the local university—wasn't very pleased.

Once she had been happy, hopping through a well and enjoying the time she had with her friends who were straight from the fairytales. She had acted like a princess, and like nothing could affect her. That was why they had all died. It was her fault, and nothing could make her forgive herself. That was why she worked herself near death.

It was all in the cause of forgetting what had happened. It was all in the cause of making their pained faces disappear from her mind as they all struggled to stay alive and help her finish the battle. But none of them made it and she ended up all alone on the battle field, facing Naraku all by herself; just a slip of a girl with little to no control over her powers and no arrows left to fire.

Death had been imminent anyway, and desperation had set in. Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara had all paid the price for her mistake. They had all learned that she had thought everything was a game and that only their deaths would make her realize how very wrong she had been.

Memories of that battle haunted her to the point where she never wanted to sleep, so she worked herself until she was beyond exhaustion and refused to give herself enough time while she was awake to think about it. Now, nearly ten years after the well had returned her to her time and once more sealed itself, she found the loneliness of burden becoming a dangerous feeling.

The Jewel... she refused to think of what had become of it because of what wish she had bestowed on it. She refused to think of what she had forced herself to become all because of a wish made in an act of desperation.

At first, she had handled it well; taking classes in college of self-defense, but then reality really steamed in and she broke down by the well one day. Her mother had given her money to move away and she did, moving to another town, another place and starting out fresh, re-enrolling in college, and just living with little to no emotional support.

She was doing well enough now with managing her two jobs and the hours she had to put in to keep up with them. Being a history teacher at a local high school helped her cope with the loss of time traveling and wore her out to near the point of exhaustion. Being a doctor at the hospital helped her remind herself that there were others who were in physical agony that needed her to cope with her mental depression.

So every day she smiled and told people she was fine, when really she wasn't. She slept four only four hours of the night because by the time the fifth hour came around she would start having the nightmares, and then she woke up and made sure she was ready for the day. Saturday and Sunday were her worst days of the week because there was no school for her to occupy herself with during that time.

And when the day was over, she went home and fed her non-existent fish before setting herself to work at destroying every bit of dust in her house. If it gave her something to do, she would gladly take it. If only to forget...

When Kagome woke up on the morning of December the twenty third to the sound of eight grating alarm clocks going off in unison and causing a great raucous at four in the morning, she stumbled out of bed and prepared to go about her usual routine. She shut off each alarm clock in turn before stumbling toward the bathroom and taking an icy shower.

She reminded herself she had to pay the rent or the landlord wouldn't turn her heat back on. With it being winter, she was likely to become sick if she waited too long, and it didn't help that her landlord was a stingy old bastard who added interest to the initial payment when it was late.

She shivered as she turned off the icy water and pulled her towel around her, hastily drying off and getting dressed. The winter brought the inevitable break from school, and so she had picked up extra hours at the hospital. People called her a work-a-holic, and her boss suggested getting counseling for it, but she didn't think it was a problem.

Payday was soon. She would be able to pay her rent and her heat would be turned back on. She doubted it would make much difference. Any room she entered always seemed cold lately. There was something missing from her life that she needed, but for the life of her, she could not understand what it was.

The loneliness seemed to have nothing to do with wanting the attention from a prospective mate; dating someone seemed to make her even lonelier than before. Her students at school set her up on dates with people, telling her she should get out more. Her patients and co-workers at the hospital took it upon themselves to invade her privacy as well.

But all she found in these people was boredom. It was like dating Hojou all over again, listening to him drone on and on about the use of one thing or another. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she wasn't finding it.

Her milk was filled with ice chunks—once again the cooler on the refrigerator had broken and was freezing everything—but she still poured it over her frosted flakes and stood there to watch the food get soggy before she actually ate it. She had lost the motivation to eat the food as soon as the milk touched it, but she wouldn't waste it.

As soon as she had eaten her soggy cereal and washed the dishes she had dirtied, made the counter spotless, and made her bed, her feet found their way to her front door. It was five in the morning and her shift at the hospital didn't start until seven, but she couldn't stay in her apartment for much longer. If she continued to scrub the counters, she would rub the polish off them.

Her coat was not very much protection against the harsh wind of the winter and her still damp hair froze quickly in the pristine bun she had put it in. Should she really allow herself anything less than perfection? Being perfect gave her a distraction, so she couldn't allow anything less.

As Kagome walked down the same track she took every single day, passing the same park she passed every other day, she got the urge to break away from the normal even while something inside her told her it wasn't a very good idea. Looking toward the park, she saw the darkness of it was nearly engulfing and she wanted to tempt it.

She wanted to see if there would be dangerous things in those trees like there had been in the trees in the past. She wanted to know what dangerous things would be in there and she wanted to face them. This strange feeling in her was dangerous and she knew it. She had to be at work at seven and if she deviated from her path, she would not complete all she usually did before work.

But there were those dark trees, and an even darker center to them that was the path going through them... Her feet carried her toward those trees and toward that darkness that those trees housed. Her heart sped up slightly as she heard the whispering of the wind through the leafless trees and their shadows were cast upon her as she entered their embrace.

As she walked further and further, she came to the end of the path. There was just a little stone bench there that she sat upon and sighed. The adventure had come to an end so quickly. She had expected... well, she didn't know what she had expected, but a stone bench set for lovers certainly wasn't it.

And then she heard it... A harsh and raspy breathing sound, very close by. Her hands in her pockets clenched as frightening images entered her mind of what it could be. Of course they'd be there for her. Her wish on the Jewel had only assured that she would be sought out. She should have stuck to her normal routine and forgotten completely about everything else.

Why had she deviated from the path that she knew led her where she needed to be? That coarse breathing was getting closer and she wasn't running. She didn't know why, but she still sat there as though if she were still it wouldn't notice her. But even an idiot would know that the sound of the tromping feet through the snow was heading right for her.

Heading right for her... she needed to run... but her feet were not moving. They were disobeying her terribly. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears and her breath was nearly frozen in little puffs in front of her. Her ears were burning from the cold and her fingers and toes were just as cold. Her nose was red and her lips were turning blue, but all she knew was the sound of the... the thing's feet moving closer.

It was there. It was coming closer... And it probably knew she was there. The park was too secluded. No one would hear her scream. But did that matter anymore? Maybe they would be swift with her death and then finally she would have peace from her memories... Maybe... Just maybe...

* * *

**That's just crazy. But sexy crazy. Haha!**


	2. SelfDefense

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha characters, though I am often tempted to string one or two from the ceiling fan in Hiei's living room. What the hey, it's not like anyone would notice anyway... it's so loaded with ink stains that a few blood stains would be overlooked. _

* * *

Chapter two: Self-Defense

Kagome turned her head to look behind her—of course it would be behind her! Her fairy tale was filled with all-things-cliché!—and watched as a dark figure came out of the shadows. She gasped at the blood that covered it, but despite the wounds the man harbored, when they saw her they plunged for her.

Years of self-defense classes—used purely as a distraction at the time—kicked in and she could not be more grateful to have taken them than at that moment as she removed her hands from her pockets and threw the horned man over her side, watching them tumble to the ground. The intent to kill her came from him in waves so that she thought she would choke on it if she wasn't careful.

But she gave in to the distraction the horned creature provided as the desire for self-preservation found it's way into her soul. She felt as cold as the shower had been that morning and used that icy emotion inside her to her advantage, keeping her face a liquid smooth grace. She refused to be anything less than perfection, and this man... no, she couldn't call him a man when she clearly saw he was a demon... he was ruining her perfection.

She could feel his blood on her. She could feel her clothes soiled by the blood, which meant she would further have to deviate from her usual routine and go back to her apartment to shower and change again before work. That meant another icy shower. A shiver ran down her spine as she saw the man's desire as he realized what she was. Not who, but _what. _

Everyone felt that way about her if they could sense it. Everyone craved the power she could give them, even if she refused to do so. Her wish had made her powerful, and in turn, her wish had made her desired by those who could sense it. "I will devour you and take your power for myself!"

How many times had she heard those words ten years ago, shortly after she returned from the other side of the well? It was when demons searched her out. But after she moved, she had changed how she lived and who she lived. She wasn't Kagome Higurashi, because demons knew her name and sought it out.

She was Aiko Soruisa to everyone else. But a demon that came in close quarters with her like this one could still sense her power and want it for them self. She was bait that attracted all fish in the sea. She was bait that fought back. She was bait with a desire to live, despite the fact that she was drowning in the water with little chance of survival.

Kagome let a bitter chuckle escape her lips as she skipped to the side of the demon's charge. It seemed likely that demons as wounded as he would just pass out from lack of blood and she wouldn't have to do anything. She could just leave him to die. Ten years ago she would never have even allowed the thought to cross her mind, but then again... it had been ten years.

"Stand still, woman, and face your fate! I will devour you!" The demon bit out his blood freezing in the cold air and sticking to his body. She could see from the lightening gloom of the atmosphere as the sun tried to rise behind the winter sky that he was covered in swelling burn marks and the wounds he had on him were created by a sword.

"I take orders from no man." Kagome told him, her blood boiling at the order. Inuyasha had ordered her around so many times. Even after ten years, she wanted to see his face again. She couldn't remember what he looked like anymore, but at the same time she could and it haunted her. She couldn't remember what he looked like without all the blood to cover him.

She would have left this demon to chance before but now she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to press down the disgust she felt at being ordered around, even if it was just a small one. There had been a time when she would have just repressed the urge, but with this fatally wounded demon, she found she could not.

Despite the fact that he was indeed wounded, she could tell he was still very able-bodied. She began to whisper the words that began all of her spells and the wind picked up in the little wooded clearing. The light snow picked itself up off the sides of the path and flowed up like a tornado, spinning and braiding itself together.

The demon knew better than to waste time and thought it would be able to stop her from completing the spell. She knew better than to stay in the line of fire while the demon charged at her. Unlike ordinary priestesses, she did not need to remain motionless to complete a spell. She formed her base around herself instead of an inanimate object around her.

She jumped to the side, but her footing landed badly and her fall to the ground destroyed her concentration. The braided snow fell around the clearing and the wounded demon looked at her with power-hungry eyes. She briefly wondered who he had been fighting before he stumbled upon her.

She was facing death and she knew it. But what should she do about it? That she didn't know. For the first time in ten years, she had no idea what she was doing or where she was going. This fact bothered her beyond words.

But just as the demon was nearing her and the thought crossed her mind that she would have no time to create a new spell and she had landed awkwardly making any number of self-defense classes useless, the demon suddenly split into several pieces, it's blood spraying all over her like rain.

When she looked away from it's pieces, she saw a spiky haired, crimson eyed male staring at her. He was wounded, and Kagome guessed he had been the one who fought the demon before. "Thank you." she whispered.

"I didn't do it to save you. You humans read to far into things." He stated bluntly. He was very harsh sounding, but as he fell forward, she couldn't help but go to his side. He had saved her after all, so she thought he deserved some help.

* * *

**That's just crazy. But sexy crazy. Haha!**


	3. Working

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I have a mission. It is in my profile. View my profile to see my mission. I will accomplish this mission. And that other mission. And any other mission so long as it deals with writing. I own my thoughts and ideas and over 100 music boxes, but I do not own your or anyone else's things. _

* * *

Chapter three: Working

Kagome had done what any genius in her situation would have done. She pulled out the cell phone she conveniently had forgotten she hadn't paid the bill for and tried to dial the hospital, but when she could get no signal, she recalled that being three months behind on her phone bill generally wasn't accepted by her phone company.

After figuring that out, she did what any irritated woman would have done after being attacked in a secluded lover's get-away, covered with blood, and threw the phone as far as she could away from her. This of course did nothing for her mildly annoyed temper because the phone had been very expensive, but she understood that the unconscious man probably needed care.

Adjusting her priorities, she took her coat off and covered the bloody man, taking the sword from his hand and throwing it into a snow bank. It wouldn't be very lovely if the paramedics came and saw the diced up demon and then the sword in her odd savior's hand. Humans were easily scared by what they couldn't understand, and someone strong enough to dice another up into jerky strips with a sword was something they wouldn't understand.

There were too many pieces of the demon to purify and she didn't particularly become attached to the idea of allowing the spiky haired demon to die on her watch so she allowed her magic to create foot impressions in the snow leading away from the scene of the crime.

She wasn't about to bring the spiky haired demon home with her. Her home was pristine perfect and she was not dumb enough to think that she could do a better job caring for him and making him well than her fellow co-workers at the hospital. She checked to make sure his pulse was strong before jogging toward the entrance to the park, hoping that no other strange and evil horned demons would come for him.

Several times her foot landed in a snow drift and by the time she reached the payphone that always seemed to be just at the entrance to the park, her ankle felt frozen and she was shivering even further because now she was without a coat. Her fingers fumbled as she dialed the emergency service at the hospital and as it rang, she looked around for some inkling of a sign to name the park.

Harris Street Park, she read on a sign just barely within sight. Soon she had given the location and the emergency service was on its way. There. She had helped the demon who had helped her. Now she could go on with her life and hopefully never see the demon again. That would be just perfect if it worked out for her. And hopefully she had made it so the demon wouldn't get arrested by throwing his sword into the snow bank.

Or else she had just condemned herself to be the assist in the crime. Shit, that sucked. Her prints would be on the sword. She watched as the paramedics came and the police came and everyone and everything was questioned, photographs were taken… Life had once been perfect, but every now and again she had this craving to break from normality. That break turned out for the worst.

By the time Kagome was finished being questioned, it was nearing six thirty and she had to go home and redo getting ready for work. She heaved a sigh as she trudged into her cold apartment once more, carefully setting the keys on the perfect counter top. All the emotions that had raged through her in the last hour and a half left her near ragged, and the cold shower soothed no pains.

She was a half an hour late for work, but as she noticed, no one seemed to care. All her co-workers seemed to think that she had a _problem_ with working. They seemed to think it was like a _drug_ or something for her.

Other doctors drank, or golfed, or went to charity banquets, but she _worked_. Other teachers played with their children or read a book or chaperoned school dances. She _worked_. They said it was unnatural. But even if she were told to go home, she wouldn't unless she was either fired or something drastic happened to force her to go.

They knew that. They all knew that. She pulled on her lab coat, white and as perfect as the rest of her once more was, she felt slightly exhausted. Her deviation from normality probably meant she would need to sleep more than four hours that night. Some people might wonder how it was possible for her to live on four hours of sleep per night.

Her reasoning was even though she was tired, she would have plenty of time to make up all that lost sleep when she died and no longer had to dream. If she killed herself early, then that would be only for the better.

"Doctor Soruisa." Kagome turned to look at who had called her. It had been so many years since she had heard her real name being called out. Her own mother didn't even call her anymore, though she supposed that could have been due to the lack of payments she made on her phone bill.

Souta came and visited her once a year, but he called her Aiko Soruisa just like everyone else did now. He called her by the name she had made up instead of her given name. Oh what a harsh world she lived in that no one knew who she really was anymore.

"Yes?" Kagome asked as she clipped her nametag on the pocket of the lab coat and pulled her stethoscope around her neck. She was once more ready for a day of hard work so that when she lay her head down on the pillow at night, she would not dream.

"I heard you're trying to get the position for Head Doctor of Ward B. I just wanted to wish you luck on that." Kagome smiled and accepted the luck, even if she felt she wouldn't need it. She worked very hard, so of course she was the perfect person for the job. And if she got the job, she would receive a pay increase that would hopefully help her keep up with her bills.

"Thank you," Kagome told them and they walked off.

Kagome went to Ward B of the hospital, looking through her chart box to see who she would have that day. She had the usual amount of patients in the clinic to take care of, most of them walk-ins. She also had Terrance and Jillian to take care of out of the patients in Ward B. There was nothing out of the ordinary about her day anymore. The world had righted itself.

Kagome set off toward the clinic. Her first patient of the day was a child named Colten Brown and he was in for his six month check-up. He was one of Kagome's regular patients in the pediatrics department since their hospital didn't have any specific pediatrics doctors, the regular doctors all had to work at it as well as their other work.

As she walked into the room where Colten and his mother were, she greeted the two cheerfully. "Good morning. Sorry, I hope you weren't waiting too long. Ran into a little trouble this morning." Kagome must have perfected the art of understatements, she swore it. Chalking everything off as unimportant or inconsequential for all those years did take a negative toll every now and then.

Mrs. Brown smiled warmly at Kagome. "Oh, not at all, Doctor Soruisa." She assured her, though Kagome knew they had been waiting doubtless a half hour or more because they were scheduled for a seven o'clock appointment and Kagome hadn't even gotten to the hospital until seven thirty. "Colten, why don't you put the toy down and come talk to Doctor Soruisa?"

"Because I don't wanna do it." Colten said stubbornly, turning his back further to the two adults and slamming his fist down on the toy car he was playing with.

"I'm sorry, Doctor Soruisa," Mrs. Brown apologized. "He's been like this for almost a month now and I had been going to bring him in early for a check up, but I had hoped it would just be a passing phase."

Kagome smiled encouragingly at the woman. "It's quite alright. He's seven," Kagome always made it her job to know her patients as well as she could just like she did with her students, "and in my experience with patients, children always get cranky about that age."

After Kagome had managed to peel a few questions out of Colten and received the rest from his mother, Kagome was about to leave, but an eager tug on her jacket stopped her. She looked down at Colten to see him holding his hand out expectantly for a sweet that she usually kept in her pocket. She smiled and took out a red and white swirled peppermint hard candy.

"Don't eat it until you've had your lunch, okay?" she told the boy. He nodded his acquiescence and stuffed it in his pocket where she was sure he would forget about it and it would go through the washer. "I'll see you in six months. Don't hesitate to call in early if you need me though." Kagome told Mrs. Brown and Colten.

"Thank you again, Doctor Soruisa." Mrs. Brown said gratefully. Kagome nodded and went to take care of her other patients in the clinic before the noontime lunch came around. Once more she had made herself food but as soon as she saw it she didn't feel hungry anymore. But still, she ate it because she wouldn't waste it.

"Aiko?" Kagome turned at her boss's voice. "Another patient was placed in Ward B. I would like you to take over his care during your shifts. He'll be another of your regular patients." Kagome nodded and accepted the chart that he held out to her. "But I also want you to take Christmas Day paid vacation. I unscheduled you."

Kagome's knuckles turned white as she held the chart a little too tight. She couldn't afford even one whole day vacation! That was too much time to herself! Too much time to sit and think! "Yes, sir." She told him, though if looks could kill, he would have been dead a thousand times over.

She liked the fact that he had given her another regular patient—it was all that much harder she could work herself to death—but unscheduling her was like begging her to just drop off the face of the Earth. She decided she didn't like her boss all that much anymore. He had been tolerable before, but now he was just downright insane.

Of course she couldn't complain though. He was coincidentally also the one who would choose the person who was promoted to Head of Ward B, since he was the current Head. But when he retired and passed that position onto her… she would be able to drown herself in the work. She had never been so sure about anything in her life: she would get that promotion.

* * *

**That's just crazy. But sexy crazy. Haha!**


	4. Recommended

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: This is a HieiKago fanfiction. To read my KuwaKago, go to my profile... it's a one-shot, and not what you'd expect (I hope). It doesn't really even have a true end... But anyway! This story is not written to trick you into thinking it's a KuwaKago, because it's not. I have created a mission. It is to cover the entire FF world with HieiKago love and then when I have massed an army of HieiKago fanfiction, we will march on to rule the UNIVERSE! Bwahahaha! (I still don't own.)_

* * *

Chapter four: Recommended

As Kagome finished up the lunch she didn't really want to eat, she looked over the chart of the new patient. It was not yet complete, so she would have to question her new patient and finish the paperwork, but she didn't mind that. What she minded was the idiot who had "recommended" her to be the patient's doctor.

So either her foe was hoping she would fail with this patient, or he was just mocking her by recommending her for an easy case. Kagome hated the masochist who believed himself better than her just because of her gender. But as always, she would accept the case with dignity and grace, and come out ahead in the eyes of her boss.

She would achieve that promotion. She would not be bested by a man. She stood and gathered the remains of her lunch, throwing them away before brushing herself free of non-existent crumbs and pulled the chart toward the crook of her arm. She made her way to the clinic to check her chart for the time of her closest clinic appointment, and then finally made her way to Ward B.

Upon her entrance, she was greeted with the cold and white washed walls that were Ward B. She couldn't understand how people could possibly say Ward B was near the coldest place in the entire town. She thought it was rather warm and cozy. It certainly was much warmer than her apartment.

Ward B was split up in sections. There were six doctors that worked in Ward B including Kagome's boss, and twelve nurses. Ward B had been split up into six rooms to compensate the territorial needs of doctors who cared for the patients in Ward B. The reason why Ward B was so extravagant and out of the ordinary was because the patients who lived in them were "indefinite" which often meant there was never to be a chance they would leave the hospital again.

Sometimes they did, but more often than not they didn't. The room where Kagome's indefinite patients were housed was at the very end. She pressed open the door, smiling at Terrence and Jillian who were playing a game of electronic chess on the large screen. It was how they took out their frustration at being paraplegics.

"Doctor Soruisa!" Terrence called jovially, running a hand through his already messy hair as soon as he noticed her. He was an elderly man, crippled in a car accident. He refused to go to an old-folks home and so his family had chucked him at the hospital so they wouldn't have to worry about him.

Kagome nodded a greeting, looking toward the curtained off section. Inside it would be her newest patient, undoubtedly unconscious after the surgery. "Good afternoon, Terrence." She walked over to the elderly man's bed and took her stethoscope from around her neck. "Have you been well?"

"Well as one can be without the use of their legs, I presume." Terrence chuckled bitterly before entering his move on the electronic keypad that sat in his lap. He breathed in and out, used to the daily routine. After she had checked Terrence's breathing, she moved to Jillian's side.

Jillian said, "Hi, A'ka, t...take...turn?" Jillian was ten years her junior. He was at the carefree age that Kagome had been just before the final battle. He had been beaten near death in an alley after being mugged, and this left him struggling to recall much about himself. A year before he had been unable to speak even, but constant therapy and persistence had brought his speech back, even if it wasn't perfect.

"No, Jillian." Kagome told him, smiling at him. He amazed her. He was considered a paraplegic since he had no use of most of his body. He could move his left arm and his head, but other than that he could move nothing.

Jillian pouted but then brightened. "P.p.pepper?" He asked her with hopeful eyes. She nodded and took one of the candies from her pocket, un-wrapping it for him. He greedily stuffed it in his mouth making her chuckle. "M.m.mom s.s.stopped t.to s.see m-me." He stammered.

"She did?" Kagome feigned surprise, though she knew already. Nothing that happened in Ward B went without her notice. She considered it practice for when she became Head of Ward B. Aside from that, she had been the one to call his mother and as her to stop by.

She knew it hurt the woman to see her child thusly injured, but Kagome felt it was wrong to just ignore the entire thing and pretend nothing happened—or worse, pretend she never had a son in the first place. "Y-yes."

"She brought cake!" Terrence reminded Jillian and despite what all people said, Kagome thought the two were a cure for each other. Terrence and Jillian encouraged each other to continue going every day. Kagome wasn't sure what would happen if Terrence were to pass away, as he could any day now. He was nearing one hundred years old.

"Did she? Well, I'll be!" Kagome picked her new patient's chart up from where she had set it on the end of Terrence's bed. "What kind of cake?" She sat down in the chair between the two beds to listen to them chatter at her while she resumed her inspection of the new chart.

She kept half her attention on the two in case they needed something, but mostly she just read the chart, nodding her acceptance every now and then to the conversation that her patients carried 'with her'.

She had been given another paraplegic, which was no surprise to her. Her co-worker usually recommended her for the hopeless cases. She could have gotten back at him during several occasions, but found it beneath her to do such a thing. A short while later, Jillian and Terrence had gone back to their game of chess and Kagome stood up, walking with the chart to the enclosed section of Ward B-6.

She slipped through the curtain and looked at her patient, nearly dropping the chart in shock. It couldn't be possible! Hadn't he been moving around just before he passed out? The normally cool and collected doctor fumbled with the chart, reading it more carefully this time rather than skimming the contents.

_It is assumed that the fall worsened the tear in his spinal column, rendering him a paraplegic from the waist down._

It made sense. She looked at the unconscious man with a frown before noticing something about him. He had a third eye on his forehead. Walking closer to examine him, her frown only deepened as she looked at the chart again.

_Born with a defect: third eye. Natural red eye color, so it is assumed that albino has no exception on humans, and he was at one point supposed to be twins, though the second was not formed past the first eye and there was no separation. _

She sighed bitterly, feeling worn already. Humans were always making excuses for what they could not believe. He was not an albino human with a defect, he was a demon plain and simple. With the rate at which demons seemed to heal in comparison to humans, she hoped there would be some chance that he would walk again, though she wouldn't bet her life on it.

She put the chart in the box bolted to the wall beside the bed and began the routine he would soon come to know as normal. She checked his breathing and used her tiny flashlight to shine it in his eyes to be sure he was responsive at least on some level. She poked and prodded at his leg muscles to remove any cramps that would form and affect his already bruised and broken spinal column and then covered him back up.

* * *

**This fanfiction could get all... out of the ordinary... If I wanted to write "ordinary" I would write like someone else instead of myself. If you wanted "ordinary" you wouldn't be reading this fanfiction.**


	5. Paralyzed

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer:I have created a mission. It is to cover the entire FF world with HieiKago love and then when I have massed an army of HieiKago fanfiction, we will march on to rule the UNIVERSE! Bwahahaha! (I still don't own.)_

* * *

Chapter five: Paralyzed

Kagome was awoken by the sound of eight alarm clocks blaring at the other end of the room. December the twenty fourth had finally arrived and as she shivered in her apartment, feeling as though the hardwood floor was ice beneath her as she got out of the shower, she thought about all the things she would have to do that day.

She already knew about needing to explain to her newest patient his situation and how she would do her best to make sure that he is most comfortable. She would go through the usual routine; first she would be accused of being a fraud after the initial explanation, then she would be asked if she'd ever been paralyzed and she would say no, and finally the patient would be sure she knew nothing.

She ate her soggy cereal for breakfast; as usual losing her appetite the instant the milk was poured. She dressed perfectly, did her hair perfectly, put makeup on perfectly...No one would ever accuse her of being imperfect. The jacket she had washed the night before—her good jacket—showed none of the blood it had on it after it had covered the man in the park.

Work was far busier on Christmas Eve as many people came in on stretchers after fainting out of stress while doing last minute shopping. Nothing serious really happened, but it still left Kagome running around trying to figure out up from down. She loved busy days like that because there was no chance to think about all the terrible things that had happened ten years before.

There was no need to think about the terrible thing she had made herself become. There was no need to delve into the reason why people still looked at her and questioned if she had reached her nineteenth birthday yet, even though she was going on her twenty-ninth.

When she finally had a break from the busy morning in the clinic and she was able to go to Ward B, she took the chance because she was sure she wouldn't get another for a few hours and she still had to talk to her new patient.

Ward B was nearly deserted. Two nurses were on duty at all times, but normally at least six would be wandering around. The other four had been called to help out in the clinic. Kagome nodded her greeting to the two nurses as they waved and then entered Ward B-6. Terrence and Jillian were not there. Terrence's family had taken them both to a Christmas Family Reunion.

So it was just Kagome and her new patient. Just Kagome... and her new patient... No thoughts of the past would haunt her. Even if the fact that he was a demon seemed to make her mind want to just think of the past. As she got closer to the curtain that enclosed her new patient's bed, she heard a smooth voice speaking.

"You're going to let a woman take care of you?" Kagome recognized that voice very well and while inside she was raging that he would be in her section, she ignored the feelings of vengeance that crept up inside her and pulled the curtain open. As humans were won't to do, her co-worker had not realized she was there until he heard the scraping of the pulleys that worked the curtain.

"Ah... Doctor Ahishimoru, was there something I could get for you?" Of course Kagome smiled sweetly at him, even while she wanted to take those self-defense skills that she had forced herself to learn and beat him to a bloody pulp. "Or were you waiting for me, perhaps?"

He said nothing before glaring at her and stalking toward the door. Kagome could not wait to become his boss. He wouldn't dare treat her that way then, because she would fire him if he did. Turning to her patient, she saw he was more relaxed than she had expected. He had his arms folded behind his head and his crimson eyes looked at her carelessly.

"You're people are seriously lucky." He said quietly and she could hear a dangerous edge to his voice that reminded her of Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha at the same time. It wasn't fair that he should be there to remind her of the past! Already she felt her heartbeat speeding up. His eyes reminded her of Naraku—dangerous and plotting something.

He was going to be a danger to the barricades on her mind. He wouldn't know it, but she could already feel the memories pushing against the gate, trying to break it down and be remembered again. "Why are we lucky?" she asked him, her voice calm even if she didn't feel that way. She walked over to him and began to check the sensors that were connected to him.

"If you removed the bandages on my arm, you would have unleashed terror upon this world and the next." He explained and she looked skeptically at him before pulling her flashlight from her lab pocket to snap it on and check to see how quick his pupils responded to light.

"You need not worry. The bandages were changed by me, late last night. Lift your chin please." He decided to indulge her fancies for a moment and let her check him out. When his legs woke up from their little 'nap' he would be gone. He lifted his chin and she began to feel around his lymph nodes as she would in any normal check up. She had to finish filling out the chart. "You know what happened yesterday right?"

"Of course." He responded smoothly, his voice sending jolts into her memories again. He felt the power radiating off of her, but he felt no urge or desire to make it his own. He believed in relying on his own power.

"I have some bad news to add to what you know already." Kagome told him softly, removing the blanket from his lap to reveal his bare and muscular legs. Soon they would become soft and fleshy, no longer toned because they would not be used. She reached out and began to massage his upper leg—as was her job—to relieve the pent up tension that would have formed, even if he wouldn't realize it. "You're a paraplegic."

She knew it sounded harsh, and normally she wasn't so callous but kind words failed her at that moment. Her patient stared at her for a moment as though gauging whether or not she might be lying, but then he realized that he couldn't feel her hands on his legs. He didn't realize what she was doing, even if he was looking at her. He wasn't watching her hands, so logically if he wasn't paying attention to his peripheral vision, he would have missed it.

"Excuse me? I'm a what?" He knew what the word meant, but he just couldn't believe it. He had survived for so long being the Forbidden Child and hated by pretty much everything that moved, and suddenly even after all that abuse, he was paralyzed? He couldn't believe it. His legs were just asleep. "You're lying." It came out more as a question though, a hopeful remark. It was just some sick joke this strange woman was playing on him for scorning her for thinking he would save her.

* * *

**This fanfiction will not be like others you have read. If I wanted to write "ordinary" I would write like someone else instead of myself. If you wanted "ordinary" you wouldn't be reading this fanfiction.**


	6. Symbol

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer:I have created a mission. It is to cover the entire FF world with HieiKago love and then when I have massed an army of HieiKago fanfiction, we will march on to rule the UNIVERSE! Bwahahaha! (I still don't own.)_

* * *

Chapter six: Symbol

I'm not lying, she wanted to say, but she could only manage a raised brow. She saw him staring at his legs like they were foriegn objects he had never seen before. Her hands continued to massage them and she guessed he was trying to figure out why he couldn't feel her hands on his legs. She let go of his leg and moved around to his other side to resume her task only on the opposite limb.

As she felt eyes on her she turned her head to look at her patient. For a moment she had been distracted, trying to guess who would be waiting for her in the clinic. "Yes?" she inquired. Finished with her task, she recovered him back up and reached for his chart in the box on the wall. His hand gripped her wrist and pulled her off balance. Despite not having the use of his legs, he was damn strong!

It was sheer luck that the rail was not up on the bed yet. Usually she put the rail up right after finishing her task, and if it had been up, she would have crashed into the rail rather painfully. Instead, she fell just how he had intended her to: into his arms. There was absolutely nothing romantic about their position. If anything, she would have called it a rather sinister and dirty trick. By grabbing hold of a pressure point on the back of her hand, she literally was at his mercy.

And boy did it hurt. She gulped down an imperfect whimper; it was what he wanted and she would not give him it. Only when she could trust her voice to not quiver did she speak. "Demon, if you think to use that dragon of flame on me, think again. I have already sealed it, and it will remain sealed for the duration of your stay at this facility." She began to expand her magic further out from her body, to give him a little taste of the purification that resided in her. His grip loosened, though he did not let go completely, and she understood why. He had control of her, he wouldn't give that up now.

His clawed hand moved to her throat. She knew he was a danger. He could kill her before she could possibly purify him. Well, if she were anything normal, that is. Unfortunately, the greatest he would do to her would be to inflict a minor wound that would annoy her for a while. She cursed her wish on the Jewel of Four Souls. No wish on the Jewel would ever bea pure wish; not with the evil that resided in the core of the once shattered piece.

"You have the ability to heal me. Do so, immediately." She had not expected that. Had she expected that, she might have prepared herself a little more. Unfortunately, her perfect world was crumbling. She saw blood in her vision. A face... Sango's face... "No!" she cried out, and he released her out of surprise at her reaction. She took the memory and pushed it out of her mind violently. This demon would not pull up memories so long gone.

A little more than disconcerted, she smoothed her doctor's jacket and stood up again, hastily leaving the room. She felt his eyes watching her the entire way. In the hall she called Nurse Rita over, giving her the task of completing the chart. She had to leave the hospital.She couldn't wait another moment, and the next day she had off. Still, she would find something to do. She had to find something to do.

That demon... he knew... He knew what she was! He didn't threaten to take her power for his own, because had he devoured her he would have effectively taken her life--it was the only way she could possibly die--and he would have healed his spine. But instead, the demon demanded she heal him instead. If she had that power, she would have used it on Terrence and Jillian, but she swore she had no such power.

_"You have the ability..."_ He said ability... it was a world of difference. If she had the ability to do it... But no, she never would manage to harness her power that well. She could only harness so much of her power without confronting the reality of what had happened at the final battle and confronting it was something she knew she could not handle alone. Unfortunately, there was no one left to help her sort out what was truth and what didn't really happen but was a made up image of what she wanted to have happened.

She shivered as the cold air outside met her and looked back at the window that she knew was for Ward B-6. In it was a face. The demon was at the window, presumably in a wheel chair. He watched her, three cold red eyes glaring. She watched him for a moment, and then the window fogged up and all she could see was his finger trailing through the fog to create a symbol. A circle on the outer rim of another much larger circle. Dots lined the larger circle, and every ten dots was a comma. When the window cleared, the demon wasn't there anymore.

She took off at a run. Her perfect world was crumbling around her. How would she ever make it?

She had calmed down considerably by the time she made it to her apartment and she was met with a pleasant surprise. Her brother awaited her in her kitchen, making himself a cup of tea. When he saw her, he pulled out a second tea cup and prepared to make more. He was the only one in he world who seemed to matter. He had a spare key to her apartment so if he ever wanted to visit, he could just come in and wait for her.

He smiled at her. "Are you ready to come home yet?" He was talking about Tokyo. She wasn't sure if she was ready, but with that demon waiting her at the hospital here, she wasn't sure if she could take it. Indefinite was a literal term. Not even being head of Ward B would make her want to face that demon again. He knew what she was. If he exposed that... She was hunted enough.

"Souta Higurashi." Kagome smiled back at her brother, but then saw his smile didn't reach his eyes. Something was wrong. More importantly, something was wrong in Tokyo. "Out with it. What has happened?"

Souta looked down at his hands. For the first time in the longest, she heard her real birth given name. "Kagome... Mama and Grandpa died in a car crash... Mama left the Shrine to you. If you don't come home, our family Shrine will be auctioned off. The lawyers said they only can wait eight more days. I tried to call, but your phone just kept going straight to voice mail, and you never called back."

Kagome gulped. That really complicated things. But she saw Souta's face and she knew he would hate to lose the last thing of Mama and Grandpa and the rest of their family. For generations, their family had been buried in the Sunset Shrine Graveyard which was devilishly nearby. The Shrine, the Graveyard, the well, all of it would be disturbed, torn up, and vengeful spirits would be made of the passed on relatives if Kagome didn't claim her right.

"Alright then," Kagome placed her hand over her brother's. She reached across the island counter and tipped his chin up. "Let us pack up my things and we will head back to Tokyo. I will turn in my resignation tomorrow." Souta was crying by the time she stopped speaking. He grabbed her hand and kissed each of her knuckles in turn. She wondered if she would be able to take seeing the Shrine again, and resolved herself. She had to do it, for Souta at least.

* * *

**This fanfiction will not be like others you have read. If I wanted to write "ordinary" I would write like someone else instead of myself. If you wanted "ordinary" you wouldn't be reading this fanfiction.**


	7. Worry

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer:I have created a mission. It is to cover the entire FF world with HieiKago love and then when I have massed an army of HieiKago fanfiction, we will march on to rule the UNIVERSE! Bwahahaha! (I still don't own.)_

* * *

Chapter seven: Worry

"I'm worried about you, Aiko," Souta told Kagome as they sat cuddled on Kagome's couch that night. He had gone back to using her stage name shortly after she agreed to go with him to Tokyo. His arms were wrapped around her shoulders and her head rested on his chest. He wore a soft tan hooded sweatshirt and casual jeans. Kagome wore her usual pristine nightgown, and a white overrobe. The two siblings could have been mistaken for lovers, had anyone seen them.

Kagome breathed out quietly, "Why?" Her breath was warm on the boy's neck, but it still froze in the air. She shivered and he pulled her closer to him still, reaching up to the back of the couch to pull the quilt over them for added warmth.

"It could be due to the fact that you have no heat in this apartment, your stove was turned off, and you received an eviction notice today. I don't know, what do you think Aiko?" Souta rubbed his hands up and down Kagome's spine, trying to warm the freezing girl up, but his efforts remained fruitless. Finally he sat up and took off his hooded sweatshirt.

"Souta, put that back on," Kagome demanded as her perfect world continued to fall around her ears. It had all started the day she veered from her path and walked into the park. She just knew it. Everything would have been perfect if she had not stepped off the known route.

Souta rolled his eyes at her and said, "You're being unusually dense, for a doctor. You'll catch pnemonia, or die of hypothermia, if you don't take this sweater." Kagome slumped her shoulders when she noticed he had a long sleeve shirt underneath and took the sweater.

She felt a tear slip down her face as she mumbled, "I can't die, Souta. It doesn't matter if I am discomforted, I just can't die...and it's all my fault." Her fingers found the bottom hem of the sweater and she pulled it over her head. She was sobbing before she could even pull her head out of the hole. "I'm alone, Souta. I'm all alone. No one knows me, but they all want me. Some wish to devour me. Some wish to use me... And I must fight alone! I don't want to be alone anymore!"

Souta wanted to help her. He really did, but he had no answer for her, so he just pulled her close and kept her there, rubbing his hands on her upper body in a futile attempt to warm her up, though she never seemed to cease shivering. At last she fell asleep, but she slept so fitfully that Souta had to stay awake and hold her still or she would injure herself.

In the morning, Kagome awoke before her alarm clocks even rang. Souta slept deeply beside her on the couch, she guessed he had fallen asleep just a short while before she woke, but she didn't want to disturb him and she had things to do. Carefully she pulled herself out from under the blanket and covered him back up, then went to take her cold shower.

She went about her usual routine, adding only one thing in: she turned her alarm clocks off before they could call her out of bed. That was the last thing she needed; Souta lecturing her about how unhealthy it was to get up so early when she goes to bed so late. She was a doctor, after all, she knew what was healthy and unhealthy. That didn't mean she listened to the educated advice from those who knew better though...

Within ten minutes of exiting her shower, she had managed to complete her morning chores and choke down her soggy breakfast. Then, she wrote a note to tell him she would be at the hospital and he could pick her up at noon. She had to explain to her Ward B-6 attendants and patients why she was leaving so abruptly.

She wasn't running, she promised herself. She wasn't running away from the paralyzed demon. She was simply going to Tokyo because she had obligations to her family Shrine. But a little voice asked her why she didn't stay a few days yet, at least to pick up her paycheck from the hospital. A little voice inside her accused her of running away from her own fairy tale yet again and told her that she was going to get someone killed just like the last time.

She pushed that voice away. She had gotten no one killed! ...had she? Was it really her fault? No, now was not the time to ponder on such things. The past was in the past, and she had to remember that. If she didn't, it would be her end, or at least the end of her sanity, she was sure. The last thing the world needed was Kagome being insane. She would end up making the world implode or something like that.

She left the apartment, set on where she needed to go. It was supposed to be her day off, but she was still going to go in. She would collect her things from her locker, say goodbye to her patients and thenurses who attended her room, and then go back to Tokyo with Souta. There would be no problem, would there?

Well, she hoped there would be no problems, anyway. She doubted seriously that there would be no problems because whenever she wanted no problems to happen, they usually sought her out. She was like a magnet for the stuff. A very strong and powerful magnet. Bad things didn't just seek her out, but they followed her like little puppies as well!

The streets were cold. Christmas eve was a frozen winterland, but Christmas day, the day she was forced to take vacation, was like a place right from a dream. Snow whipped around her, covering her quickly, but she did nothing to stop it. Her hair was coated in it and while she could have used her inner abilities to warm herself up, as usual she did not. Maybe she might freeze into a statue, preserved forever.

However unlikely that really was...

* * *

**Because the author loves to torture Kagome anyway... By the way, I don't care how long I have to wait, it's your job to give me fifty reviews on TMttF or I will not update. Your job. Let me emphasize that. Your job. Not to be snotty though...**


	8. Excuses

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer:I have created a mission. It is to cover the entire FF world with HieiKago love and then when I have massed an army of HieiKago fanfiction, we will march on to rule the UNIVERSE! Bwahahaha! (I still don't own.)_

* * *

Chapter eight: Excuses

Ward B-6. These words were written above the ward she had worked in for several years now. She had started here as an intern in college, soon after she left the shrine. Mother. She forced her frown away from her face, knowing she looked cold and uncaring, but it couldn't be helped. Grandpa. Both of them were dead. Kagome didn't know until now.

Souta wouldn't have told her, either. No, he wouldn't have. Not if he could have avoided it. But unfortunately, Mother had left one last gift for her: a crash landing into the past. That was unavoidable. She couldn't help but end up facing what she hoped to forget forever.

Her fingers pushed open the double-hinged door, and it swung shut behind her like a broken pendulum, coming to a stop right in the middle of the frame where it belonged. Her attendants were surprised to see her. They knew she wasn't supposed to be there."Doctor--" Nurse Nina started, but Kagome held up her hand to silence the woman.

"I am not here to work." Kagome told Nina. She forced a smile, and from the small wince that Nina gave, she knew it wasn't the best she had ever managed. Of course, something would be off today. Kagome had just found out her family was down to only two people... and barely even that. Souta didn't really recognize her as family anymore. He wouldn't use her real name, would he? Barely.

Terrence gave a confused look. "Doc? They said you took a vacation day!" Jillian looked equally perplexed, "A...ah...re... yoo...he-er?"

"No, Jillian, I am not here." Kagome told her patient. Well, ex-patient. She glanced at the paralyzed demon in the corner. He did not look at her. He simply stared out the window, his third eye closed. But she could feel him watching her. "I..." she paused. She couldn't tell them. What a coward she was. It wasn't hard. "I am looking for--"

She was going to lie. But now it wasn't necessary, because the person she was going to lie that she was looking for entered her ward. He must have known she had come. Unsurprisingly. Like her, he always knew everything that went on in Ward B. "Aiko, I believe you were on vacation." Her boss--ex-boss--said.

She had no choice now. She had to say it in front of everyone. Running away? Yes, she supposed she was. She always did that, didn't she? Outwardly she was perfect. But inwardly, she was a mess. "Yes, Sir. I have important matters to discuss with you, however."

"Ah. Well, I am here. Speak." She didn't like him any more now than she did before. Such a shame he had to be so annoying.

She simply stopped smiling. She had no good news to give, at least in her mind it wasn't good. "I must apologize, but I am afraid I must quit." Her boss frowned at this. Terrence looked forlorn, and Jillian looked thunderstruck. Nina and Kagome's other attendant Kii both looked away shyly. The paralyzed demon said nothing and looked emotionless.

Her boss gave her a long look as she stood there. In his eyes, she was a perfect example of a woman with a perfect life. She had her own place. She worked two jobs because she wanted to. She spent lots of money on charity. She was beautiful. "You will, of course, be putting in your two weeks time, correct?"

"Unfortunately, no, Sir. I must leave for Tokyo immediately. There is a situation there that requires my undivided attention as soon as I land." Yes, that sounded good. She was pleased with how well that came out. But she remained without a smile on her face. "I will send you my formal resignation by post. Please give my most pleasant greetings to the faculty and staff." And she turned to walk away.

Souta had come to pick her up. He knew from previous visits where her Ward was. Stepping in through the door, he said, "Aiko, we need to go. Now. Our plane leaves in half an hour and we needed to check our bags two hours ago." She nodded at the man the world would never know was her brother. The demon in the corner didn't look at her. Jillian was crying and Terrence still looked depressed. Her boss didn't say anything. He merely smiled, likely thinking she had a significant other in her life now. He would give her blessings and a good review for any new employer as long as he remained a contact for her resume.

* * *

**That's just crazy. But sexy crazy. Haha!**


	9. Bane

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I have created a mission. It is to cover the entire FF world with HieiKago love and then when I have massed an army of HieiKago fanfiction, we will march on to rule the UNIVERSE! Bwahahaha! (I still don't own.)_

Chapter nine: Bane

Morissey Park was a great tourist attraction the last time Kagome had visited it. It was a small park that her family had owned and maintained over the years, located about a mile away from the shrine itself. She did have to take into consideration the fact that it had been nine or ten years since she had last been here.

Now the park was overgrown with shrubs and crabgrass, weeds and marsh grass. The shaped bushes that her mother used to brag about had become out of control, the apple orchard produced rotten fruit, and the mulberry bushes had taken control of much of the park.

She never did like mulberry bushes. The fruit was okay once in a while, though it could be bitter-sweet if not picked at the right time. But mulberry bushes were as bad as Naraku had been: if a single root remained in the ground, a new bush would sprout.

As she walked along the hedges, her silk suit-skirt getting caught on stray branches and creating rips and tears, she reflected on the memories she had of this place. Now it was her park, not her grandfather's. She would have to take care of it in her off time, if she ever got off time.

Souta had promised to stay around to take care of the shrine for her. She could sign it off to him if she wanted to, and go back to her life of blissful unawareness. But now that she was back, she knew there were things she had to face. The end wasn't truly over until she overcame the memories that wanted to consume her flesh.

"I will remain here." She had told Souta. Her face never moved from that dispassionate, uncaring, perfected façade that she often wore. He reached out and brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek affectionately. She knew he remembered somewhere deep down in his soul that they were related, but it was as if the memory was all but completely lost.

Only once since she had taken the identity of Aiko Soriusa had he called her by her given name, and that had been recently when he had the family shrine to think of, and the future of it. "Aiko," he sighed. "Don't push yourself, okay?"

She smiled grimly. "I am a bane to your very existence, Souta. Do not mistake me for another human. My presence here will cause you great harm. I am doing you no favor by remaining."

He chuckled sadly. "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. By the way, my…um…_friend_… is coming over for dinner tonight. I'm making oden… your favorite, right?" Souta looked like he was hiding a secret from her. She could drag it out of him if she wanted to, she thought, but she did not. He was entitled to his secrets.

"That is fine." She said as she turned away from him to grab her jacket from the coat rack in the hall. Her intention had been to go to the gas station and purchase a newspaper to begin her job hunt. She had gotten the paper, but then a presence had attracted her to Morissey Park, and that was why she was now here.

"Hello?" she called out, disturbing the quiet of the park. The previously chattering birds lifted from their previous spots and flew toward her, not away. The movement startled her, but she didn't stop it. She looked at the birds and smiled. "What presence has brought me here?" she asked them. "Was it you?"

The birds fluffed their wings and chirped amongst themselves, so she took it as a 'no'. "Alright. Then I shall continue further into this mess." The park was surrounded by an eight foot privacy fence that was breaking down. She wouldn't be able to replace it. As well as inheriting the shrine, she had inherited her grandfather's debt.

She was even poorer than she had been before. She would practically have to sell herself just to make ends meet, though if she actually did that, she promised herself that it would be kept secret from Souta. It wasn't that she wanted to, or had narrowed things down to that. She just knew it was a possibility.

"I should be making a family now, not thinking of ways to pay off old debts," she muttered as the path got narrower. The hedge maze that had once been the talk of the neighborhood was dangerously uncared for.

But she made it to the other end. Her clothes—job hunting clothes, and among her finer outfits—were ripped and torn in places. A man was there. He was a human, but she couldn't ignore the presence of another inside of him. A being that was totally different from his original soul.

Beside the red haired man were two others. All three of them wore black, much like one would at a funeral service, and they stood around a cleared space, as if someone had done some hasty gardening. They appeared to be in the middle of an argument, and hadn't noticed her yet, so she remained hidden among the darkness of the narrow hedges to watch.

"We don't know for sure," yelled the black-haired ruffian, who had the look of someone who often had his hair slicked back. She supposed he wouldn't have that look if he didn't have hat-hair, but he did. His brown eyes had a fire in them, one she had seen only in one other person with gold eyes and a brash nature, though she couldn't—or wouldn't—remember his name.

The one with orange hair interjected, "Hey, guys let's not argue! We'd have far more success if we just went and looked for the stupid shrimp than stand around here waiting."

Green eyes flashed with anger, a hidden calm rage that was exactly like another acquaintance of Kagome's. It was strange, but the two of them brought up memories that she hadn't prepared herself for. Sesshoumaru was his name, she recalled. She remembered a single night of passion that was bridled with that calm rage. "He had a contractual obligation." Said the man. It had been a contractual obligation that night too; she had given him what he wanted.

"Who gives a damn?" Asked the ruffian. "Unless we know for sure that he's dead, I am not being a part of your damn funeral. 'Honor the dead soul' you say? Well, fuck that, I don't honor dead people. It's a useless effort wasted when—"

The orange haired one grabbed the brown eyed one by the arm as if he knew something would evolve. Again he interrupted. "When you could be spending your energy better by searching for Hiei than if you sat here arguing over whether or not you think he's dead!"

"If he broke his agreement with Koenma, then the Prince would have known it. He has always kept his word, and he said he would be here yesterday for my bachelor party. He even said that there was something he wanted to give me. Now, unless you think he is a liar, or that the fact that Koenma can't even find his spiritual energy, the only logical assumption is that he is dead."

"And what if you're right?" asked the brown eyed one. "What then? We just say 'oh well, Hiei's dead now let's go kill some more bad guys'."

"Koenma can't sense the hell-dragon, so it's obvious." Kagome turned to leave. The trespassers had said something interesting. The dragon they had spoken of was something she had encountered on the paralyzed demon. It made her feel regretful that she had run away from him.

She left them, knowing her presence would have gone unnoticed for the most part, and continued on her way home again. Back to the shrine that held so many memories that she didn't want.

Souta greeted her at the door, confused by the state of disrepair her clothes were in. "Aiko, what happened?" he asked.

"A shrubbery decided it didn't like silk." She said. "Where do you keep the phone now?" It used to be in the hall, but it wasn't anymore. There were a lot of changes to the shrine now. The family room had been transformed into a dining room. The kitchen was just a kitchen. The basement was now where Souta made his home, with an extra large bed Kagome had noticed when he'd shown her.

"It's in the kitchen." Souta said. "There's one in the upstairs study, and my room as well. They're all the same line though."

She nodded. "I will retire to the study then. I have calls to make, but do inform me when your friend arrives." She didn't wait for an answer, only made her way up the stairs. The entire upstairs had been renovated. The master-bedroom and grandpa's old bedroom had been made into new master quarters. Souta and Kagome's old rooms were the study.

She closed the door behind her, but not before she heard Souta rummaging around the kitchen for what he would need to make that night's dinner. To be honest, she probably should relax and recover from any jet-lag she might have suffered. But she didn't feel she had the time to do that.

She opened the newspaper to the classified ads as she put the phone to her ear and dialed the number she knew by heart. "Thank you for calling Saiza Hosptial's non-emergency line. If you know the extension of the party you are calling, please enter it now and press the pound key. If you do not know the extension of the party you are calling, please stay on the line and the next operator will be with you as soon as possible."

She dialed the extension for Ward B, and heard Nina, one of her assistant nurses, pick up the phone. "Thanks for calling Ward B. Nina speaking."

"Hello, Nina." Kagome said. "I would like you to connect me to our nameless patient. Did you ever get his name?"

"Oh! Doctor Soriusa!" Nina sounded very pleased to hear from her. "You know, I wish you were here. Doctor Ahishimoru took over for you, and he's just as pompous as ever. I swear, Terrence looks like he wants to throw his bed-pan at him sometimes."

Well, that did say a lot about the current situation over there. If the calm Terrence was stressed after only a few hours, she could only imagine what the paralyzed demon was like. Ahishimoru was probably lucky that paralysis wasn't going anywhere soon. "Well, I do say I would want to as well," she confided.

Nina giggled. "Well, I'll connect you to his phone, but the doctor is with him at the moment, so I'm not sure if he'll pick up."

"Thanks, Nina." Kagome eyed her mother's computer for a long moment while she talked before reaching down to push the power button. She might as well multi-task. She never really was a good 'sit down and chat' person, or at least after she came back from the well that last time she wasn't.

"Oh, Doctor?" Nina said suddenly.

"Yes?" Kagome inquired, curious by the sudden change in tone. Nina sounded as if she were nervous now. As the computer booted up, she shifted through the drawers in the large cherry desk, looking for anything that might seem important.

"I hope things are going well."

"They are." Kagome lied. The sudden inheritance of great debt wasn't what she would say was 'well', but her business wasn't other people's problems. As soon as she got off the phone she had to start sorting out the mess that was given to her, tracking old finances, and look for a job. The phone barely started ringing before it was picked up.

"Hello?" That slithering voice was not her ex-patient's voice. It was Ahishimoru, and he sounded completely and utterly pleased, like he had just gotten a major promotion that he was searching for. He'd probably already rejoiced that Kagome wasn't there to be looked at as successor to her ex-boss's position.

So instead of letting him know that she was Aiko Soriusa, she raised her voice in a rather pitchy version of her normal voice. "Who the hell is this!" she demanded, praising herself for improvisation. "You better not be having any relation to my sweetheart!" Why would she choose such an act? Because she knew her paralyzed demon would play along. She didn't do things that she didn't already guess the outcome to (accurately).

The phone was handed over, she guessed, because there was an annoyed, much lower tone on the line now, and it sounded like her demon. "Who is this?" he demanded.

"Ah, now." She said, lowering her voice. "Is that how you greet your doctor?" She felt a smirk crest her features. "You're rather ungrateful."

"Yeah, well I just found out that my lower half lacks any sensation at all, and I may never walk again. How grateful do you want me to be?" Well, he didn't sound happy. She supposed he wouldn't be.

"Get Ahishimoru to go away and I'll tell you." There was a pause on the other end of the line, making her smile. He was debating it, or perhaps he was curious as to how she knew Ahishimoru was still there. Either way, he wasn't talking.

"Get out." Her demon demanded. Moments later, he spoke again. "Speak, woman. And it better be good."

"I want to know about your hell dragon." More silence. He wasn't talking again, but the silence wasn't good. She might have to barter, and that wasn't going to be fun. "Tell me about your hell dragon, and I'll have you flown to my new home."

"They said I can't leave here. They want to do tests on me. They haven't said it exactly, but I'm pretty good at reading people."

Ah, so that was what he wasn't happy about. And due to the paralysis, he couldn't exactly get up and walk out. "You haven't signed any documents, have you?" she asked. She thought he wasn't exactly as good at reading people as he likely could read their minds. Kagome knew all too well that certain powerful demons had the ability to read minds as if they were open books.

He responded, "No."

"Good. Then legally, if they do any tests on you, they're committing a crime. I am certified for in-home care for paralysis." More silence. "I take it you can't read my mind while I'm this far away." She chuckled as he made a little snort. "Well, that means I'm able to bring you here without too much trouble. I could put in a transfer."

Finally, he said, "Get me out of here, and I'll tell you whatever the hell you want to know about it. Until then, I'm not talking."

He hung up, so she hung up. It hadn't gone as well as she had hoped it would. She called the hospital again, but this time she asked for her ex-boss. He was put on the phone. "Aiko, I heard you called Ward-B a few minutes ago."

"Yes, I did." She responded. "I was curious about something. Do you think you could work up a transfer for me?" She had pulled out several important looking slips of parchment and her mother's diary from the middle drawer, a series of old checkbooks and transaction registers from the top left hand drawer, and a stack of officious looking letters from the bottom right hand drawer. She set them on the desk top and began sorting them into piles.

"What are you thinking, Aiko?"

She chose her words carefully. "I may wish to transform my new residence into a small clinic. I am already certified for it, but I never had the space for one. Now I do. Would you be interested in offering me my first client?" The computer had booted up, but she ignored it for now, shifting through the checkbooks. Her mother had terrible organizational skills. It looked like when she finished with a register or a checkbook, she just threw it in the drawer with the rest.

"Sure. I'll put it in tomorrow morning. Who did you have in mind? Terrence? Jillian? Both of them wish to see you greatly, though I don't fancy the idea of separating them. They've become nearly a family, and Jillian's presence is the only thing that keeps Terrence from tossing his bed-pan around the room."

She chuckled. "Yes, Nina told me about that." She began putting the checkbooks in order by date, since it looked like their numbers were absolutely useless. At least her mother had used duplicate checks, and it appeared she didn't have a check card. She did have a credit card, however, and those debts were accruing daily interest. Kagome wanted to get those paid off as soon as possible.

"Ah, was that a laugh I heard from you, Aiko?" her ex-boss inquired. "I do believe this move was the best for you if it has you laughing."

She rolled her eyes and drawled, "It is not a big deal."

"I've known you for quite some time now, and I have never heard you laugh. I think it is something to celebrate. I'll drink one for you tonight." Again she rolled her eyes. She was not a drinker…

"I was more thinking that you might help me transfer the newer patient. After I get settled here, I may be able to bring Terrence and Jillian in together, but until then I have hope that they will refrain from throwing anything at Doctor Ahishimoru. I feel it is safe to say that he is focused more on himself than his patients or relations. That could be why his wife left him." Kagome began piddling around with the computer, seeing if there was anything interesting. There were saved letters to someone that her mother had written.

Her boss sounded surprised, "I didn't know his wife left him."

"It pays to eat in the lounge once in a while." Kagome said simply, opening one letter. It was a simple one, written to a woman named Yuna. It spoke of simple things, such as the weather and grandpa's health and the family issues. It didn't speak of Kagome, but it mentioned Souta and his fiancée, though never spoke a name for the fiancée. It just said 'Souta and his fiancée are so sweet together' and things like that.

Kagome's eyebrows came together in confusion. Souta hadn't mentioned he was engaged. He had never said anything of the sort. In fact, he usually did exactly the opposite. When she asked him if he had a significant other yet, he would turn red in the face and say, "I don't need anyone else. Look what happened to you."

Things change, she supposed.

"Aiko, are you there?" her ex-boss asked.

"Yes, I am. I'll fax you information regarding where to send him, and I'll have a room prepared for his stay. If you need any information—"

He cut her off politely, clearing his throat. "Don't worry, Aiko. I know how this works, and I can make things run smoothly."

"Thanks. I really do appreciate this." He hung up, so she hung up. She wondered what it was with people and not giving her salutations. But she ignored that and opened up another letter. It spoke more family issues—nothing about Kagome—and about Souta's upcoming wedding. It mentioned Kagome's mother being excited for the change in pace.

The next, and last saved letter was an obvious slam on Kagome and her old lifestyle. It was like the other two, but it said, "I am glad that Souta has chosen to lead a normal life. I would have to disown him otherwise."

Kagome grumbled and began rifling through the papers again. It wasn't like she could have chosen her lifestyle. She had no option there. It was either continue the quest, or else have something come and threaten her family. In a way, she was protecting them even though at the time she had mostly done it to be with her old friends. Sango…

She shoved the memory of a bloodied face from her mind, a betrayed voice asking, "He was our enemy… why?" She wasn't going to let that grasp her. She had bills to sort through, a mess of past money to balance, and still had to find a job. The classified ads awaited her, she had to type up her resume, fit it with the proper contact information, and still had to call the school in Saiza to tell them she wouldn't be in school at the end of break.

When she peered at the old grandfather clock in the study to find it read seven o'clock, she was surprised. The chimes dinged and the sound rang throughout the study as if it were music. That clock used to be in the main hall. "Souta should have finished dinner by now." She thought, standing to approach the door that entered the master quarters.

Time had gone by so quickly. She changed into another of her suit-skirts, threw her hair up into that perfect bun she always wore in Saiza, and schooled her features. Souta's friend should have arrived by now, and Souta should have come to get her. Unless Souta was ashamed of her, like Kagome's mother appeared to have been.

She did, after all, bestow Kagome with a bane. It was as if her mother was saying, "Here you go, loser, clean up my mess."

Kagome always thought the pinstripe suit-skirt and jacket accented her features. The dark color contrasted with her odd pale skin and midnight eyes. Her raven hair pulled her look into that of a stern businesswoman—in her mind at least. She took her glasses from their case. She only wore them when she was feeling a little tired. Their semi-thick, rectangular rims were black and they sat near the middle of her nose.

She didn't bother with shoes, but put on her dark blue slippers. A quick check to her makeup in the mirror and she was set to go. She descended the stairs and actually thought for a moment that she was having a heart attack. What she saw was _not_ right.


	10. Fiancee

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I have created a mission. It is to cover the entire FF world with HieiKago love and then when I have massed an army of HieiKago fanfiction, we will march on to rule the UNIVERSE! Bwahahaha! (I still don't own.)_

Chapter ten: Fiancée

"Souta, is this the friend?" Kagome inquired. She managed to keep her horror out of her voice and smooth her face to a perfect blankness, but to be honest she wanted to vomit. She had nothing against gay couples—unless her brother was a part of one. She'd seen many gay people. They were just normal people with a different sex preference.

But for Kagome to have been led under the impression for years that Souta had no love life, that he wasn't interested in relationships because of what happened in her life, and to come back to the shrine at last to find her brother with his arms around the neck of a tall man with long, striking red hair and their lips locked together, she found herself with a distinct abhorrence to the idea.

Souta looked like he would have shot away from the man had he not been beneath the man on the couch in the corner of the dining room that was given away to 'TV' space. His face, previously flushed with the energy of what she assumed was passion, turned bright with embarrassment. The man, Kagome realized, was the one from the park. She might not have known it was a man to begin with, if she had not already seen him and heard his voice.

Kagome shook her head slightly as the two parted. The man didn't look like he was at all embarrassed, or indeed like he cared for her opinion. He clearly knew what he wanted, and he always got what he wanted. Like Sesshoumaru, Kagome thought distractedly. A memory of her fighting beneath the covers as Sesshoumaru stole what was hers tried to surge forth, but she tamped it down.

Now was no time to be dealing with that. This place was going to tear her apart. Her life had been perfect; undisturbed. But she strayed from her normal path in which she came across a demon that had found her, and a demon that had saved her at the expense of his health.

This apparent difference in Souta from the little boy she remembered him as so long ago probably wouldn't have been such a big deal if he hadn't kept it a secret. If he had written a letter, or called… She smelled something burning. "Souta, is dinner ready?"

"Oh, shit!" Souta swore. The boy pulled himself out from beneath his apparent lover and made a dash for the kitchen. The fire detector began going off, setting the man's lips into a smile. He didn't appear worried, so Kagome took it to mean that this happened often.

"I am Aiko Soriusa," she introduced herself, wishing there were better circumstances to meet Souta's 'friend'. Why did Souta keep him a secret? If anything, this man—Kurama, she recalled him begin called in Morissey Park—was very handsome. He had a certain charm to him, one that she couldn't blame Souta for being attracted to.

"Shuichi Minamino. Souta's fiancée." Ah, so the truth at last. "He's not cheating on me is he?" He didn't seem very worried about it. In fact, it was as if the very thought of it brought an even wider smile to his face.

She smiled. This man had a strange humor to him. Just hours before he had been arguing heatedly about someone being dead, and now he appeared unconcerned about the dead. He had changed from the black outfit he'd worn. He hadn't been as good looking in all black as he was in the red polo shirt and black trousers that he wore now.

His clothes were slightly askew. Buttons were undone on his shirt. His hair was mussed. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his lips were bitten and bleeding. Hickeys adorned his neck like the chicken pox. But even as he was, he was very good looking.

"I assure you," Kagome drawled as she settled on the other end of the couch. "If Souta did cheat on you, it would never be with me." She ran her eyes over the man again as he settled himself comfortably. He liked things rough, she thought. It was strange to think that Souta would be so bold as to have a 'rough' relationship, but apparently he wasn't the same boy she had grown up with.

She knew he was lying about his name, but whether or not Souta knew that, she couldn't be positive. Souta wasn't an idiot. He would find out sooner or later that this 'Shuichi' was a demon of sorts. He was likely a half-demon, but he hid it well.

"You're probably right," Shuichi chuckled. He looked at her and she knew he was seeing the power that coursed through her blood. He looked as if it were difficult for him just to not reach out and touch her. He would want a taste of that power. But he had more restraint than most, like her paralyzed demon in Saiza. That three-eyed demon could have taken hold of her and the power she carried inside her, and he could have healed himself.

Instead, he demanded she do it. "Are you suggesting I am not an attractive member of the female gender?" she inquired, though she wasn't really serious. She'd perfected herself so that just one look at a man made them too scared to approach her. It saved her from the problem of dating, and from most questions of why she doesn't appear to age. People might whisper about it behind her back, but they couldn't bring themselves to ask it.

Shuichi shook his head. "Of course not. I am only saying that out of all my relationships, Souta is the only one who has ever moaned my name quite like he does while we're in bed." Okay, that was just too much information. Now she _really_ wanted to vomit.

She must have turned green because Shuichi laughed. "How many have you been with?" She hoped Souta knew about his lover's past relationships. This green eyed male had better not turn on Souta, she thought, because if he did, Kagome wouldn't hesitate to destroy him.

"Are we talking men, women, or both?" Really, why did she even ask? Such a stupid question.

"Nevermind."

"No, I'm serious." Shuichi shrugged. "If you want to know, I will oblige and tell. I've had seven serious relationships through my life with men and women. I was dumped in every one of them because they didn't like my profession. And I used to have a new slave in my bed every night." He lowered his voice even further. "But what about you?"

She felt her smile turn bitter. She had figured out what he was. _He_ was human, but there was a demon inside him, if that made sense. It did, sort of. Two spirits, combined to make a half-breed in the same fashion that Naraku was born—though he was born of many demons and a human heart. The demon inside Shuichi had lived for a long time. The human-half-breed had lived perhaps as long as Kagome. "And I?"

"Yes," he said. "You must be married by now, right? Souta said you're his sister, but you have a different last name. So where is your husband?" Shuichi knew, she realized. He knew that she was aware of the demon inside of him. That was why he said 'slave' not 'prostitute'. It was according to the times that the words were different.

Kagome held back a sigh. "I am not married." She admitted. "I was one of the slaves." She stood and looked down at him, acknowledging the fact that he knew she had power. In turn, she also acknowledged the fact that he was powerful enough to feel no need for that power. Just because her power called to him didn't mean that he couldn't resist it.

Even the strongest demons couldn't resist her completely. What she didn't understand was why she was even talking about all this with the stranger before her. She never talked about all this with her family, so why would she think a stranger would care a wit about it?

She walked to the kitchen, poking her head in. Souta sat at the island counter that was where the table used to be. He looked absolutely miserable and was attempting to peel some very extra crispy rolls off a pan.

"He likes it when he can come home from work and a delicious meal is made, but I'm no great cook like mom was." Souta sniffed. This appeared to be very disturbing to Souta that he would burn the rolls. She looked at the horrible state of the kitchen and instantly she wanted it to be clean. It was too dirty. She should be on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, dragging her fingers across his stomach and chest in a soothing motion. "Is he living here?" she asked Souta, and the boy nodded. "He seems to care for you a great deal." Kagome reached out and popped one of the burnt rolls off the pan, showing it to Souta. "I bet if you asked, he'd eat this. I will tell you a secret."

Souta reached out and took the roll, likely wondering how she got it off so easily. It had been really caked onto the pan. He cupped his hands over it. "What secret?"

"Mom was a terrible cook. It runs in the family. She had supper delivered while we were at school and just micro-waved it." Kagome kissed Souta's cheek. "A little magic trick I learned in Saiza…" she brushed her hand over Souta's and a look of shock came to his face. "Look."

He opened his hands and the roll was there, golden brown and warm. "Do it again." He begged. "This is my first Christmas with him. I want everything perfect, please, do it again…"

She brushed her hands across the black buns and golden brown color spread across them. Their hardness became soft, chewy. She did as Souta asked because she could tell this meant a lot to him. She didn't usually tap this magic because it made her feel different; not human.

"How long have you been seeing him?" Kagome asked Souta. For them to be getting married if they never spent Christmas together, it seemed strange to her. But Souta didn't seem to feel the same way. Souta put the fresh rolls on the plate he meant for them and brushed her off to start bustling around the kitchen. Souta had always come to Saiza and spent Christmas with her though.

"Well," Souta sighed with a goofy smile on his face. "It's funny you should ask that. We met about eight years ago. I know I should've said something to you about him, but mom said if I told you, you'd worry and then come home and she didn't want that for you."

She wondered if he realized he hadn't answered her question. She wanted to know how long they'd been seeing each other, not how long ago they met. Then again, a story wouldn't hurt. If her little brother was to marry a demon, she'd like to know the finer details. "And you wouldn't have invited me to the wedding, either?" she wanted to know.

"The wedding isn't for a couple months yet…" Souta trailed off when he saw the teasing look on her face. "Oh. Well, I was in Morissey Park when one of Shuichi's friends actually attacked me. He was demanding to know where you were and he said if I didn't tell him, he'd kill me."

Kagome shrugged. "Sounds like one of the usual situations." Souta was pulling plates, bowls, and glasses from the cupboard. He had three of everything.

"Well, Shuichi interfered. He said that whatever business Hiei had with you shouldn't involve hurting me." Souta's smile widened. "Good thing he interfered too, 'cause I think Hiei's rather mental."

Kagome wondered again if Hiei was her paralyzed demon. If it was, he had found her. What did he want from her? "So how did you two get together then?" Well, she could find out what he wanted from her soon enough, if it was indeed her paralyzed demon. He should be here by tomorrow, she thought. Tomorrow eve.

Souta laughed. "Shuichi's the kind of guy who gets what he wants." He took a chilled wine bottle from the fridge. It was as if that explained everything, and in a way it did. At the same time, though… it didn't. At the same time it didn't make any sense at all.

"I started following him around," came Shuichi's voice from the doorway. Kagome looked at him with surprise. He didn't seem like the stalking type. "I told him if he didn't go out to dinner with me, I'd let Hiei do whatever he wanted to him." Both boys, no they were men, Kagome amended, looked like they were recalling a very fond memory.

"So you're a stalker?" Kagome inquired of Shuichi and he flashed pearly white teeth at her without responding to her question. "And what did you do, Souta?" She knew what she would have done. She would have fought with all her might and gone only kicking and screaming.

"You betrayed us," she heard a voice whisper in the back of her mind. "But I guess we should've seen it coming…" She ignored the memory, knowing she wouldn't be able to do it forever. Their ghosts were here, and their blood was on her hands. She had as effectively ended their lives as if she had been the one with the sword.

Souta smiled at her. "Well, I thought of you and all the hell you put up with in your last relationship. And I refused." Good boy. No member of her family could afford to be weak. The cost of weakness was death and she would suffer no more of those.

"As I had promised," Shuichi shrugged, "I told Hiei he could have Souta and do whatever he wanted." Shuichi crossed the kitchen and stood next to Souta, putting one arm around Souta's shoulders in a 'he's mine now' gesture. Kagome recognized that move. It had been put on her so many times before.

"And when Hiei came to me and demanded again to know where you were again, I told him you went to America and well… he kind of freaked out and ran away. It was hilarious. He said finding you over there would be like finding a needle in a haystack." And to think, the whole time Kagome had been in Saiza. She congratulated Souta on his improvisation.

Kagome shook her head. They weren't giving her a straight answer. "That still doesn't say how you two came to be together."

"I dated girls for two years after that," Souta said. "Shuichi was always close by. I could feel him watching me constantly. I got a restraining order, but he ignored it."

"I was jealous." Shuichi admitted. "He couldn't figure out why all the girls would dump him, but it was because I threatened them."

"And he'd sneak into my bedroom at night and just sit at my desk and watch me sleep." Souta leaned against the taller man, his smile speaking for him. He didn't care that the story had become a nightmare for Kagome.

"I got tired of watching one day." Shuichi grinned. "And I approached the bed. He woke up, and the next day when I came to watch him sleep again, he was gone and your mother was in his place. She sat on the bed, waiting for me in the darkness. She told me she hired a body guard and that I need to stay away from Souta."

She held up her hand for them to stop. For a second she thought she heard something. She thought she heard someone say her name, but they didn't say 'Aiko'. That didn't make sense though. Souta was the only one alive now who recognized her even partially. Her old friends couldn't recognize her face if they wanted to; Kagome Higurashi had died years ago.

"Aiko, what is it?" Souta asked, looking tense. His hands had previously been entwined in a towel, but now he practically was tearing it apart.

She shook her head clear and made up a lie on the spot. "I was just attempting to guess what happened next. You," she pointed to Shuichi, "didn't listen, did you?" That much was blindly obvious considering the two were together at the moment, but who knows, maybe they did stay away for a while?

"No. I started to get the idea that Souta wasn't interested in me because I was a guy, so I started cross-dressing. He asked me out the first day I was dressed as a girl, and we were a couple for two years before he found out I was a guy."

She wondered if she should even ask, but did it anyway. "How'd you find out?"

Souta's cheeks turned red. "Um…"

Shuichi was conveniently silent…

"Stupid question." Kagome sighed. "Let's just eat."

Dinner was a quiet time. They all sat in the dining room with the table set and ate oden, bread rolls, garlic salmon, and an array of foreign foods that Souta wanted to try and make. For the most part, they talked lightly if at all. The weather and the plane trip to Tokyo were most of the conversation.

When Kagome couldn't stand sitting there anymore, she excused herself from the table and began cleaning up. Midnight rolled around and Kagome was still scrubbing up the kitchen. She'd done all the dishes, the countertops were shining, and she was on her hands and knees with a scrub brush and soap and water bucket.

Shuichi had offered to help clean, but she declined politely. After midnight, she stopped temporarily and went to shower. She had a new regime to create now that she was in this new place. She was tired, but didn't want to sleep because she knew if she did, those haunting memories would creep up and she would be slaughtered by them.

She changed into gray sweats and carried her tennis shoes to the entry way, sitting down to put them on. Souta called to her through the open dining room door, "Come watch television with us, Aiko." She took that to mean that Shuichi was in there as well and didn't respond. Television wasn't something she could stand; it was too false and calm.

When she didn't respond, Souta poked his head out the dining room door. "Aiko, where are you going at this time?" Shuichi was next to appear, though he didn't appear to care as much. She didn't expect him to; people didn't care about her. She was a possession.

She stood and stretched. "I have the intention to go jogging."

"In a tank top and sweatpants?" Souta demanded, stepping forward. He peeled off his sweatshirt. "At least take something warm."

"Souta, don't be foolish. I will be warm enough while running."

"Aiko—" Souta started.

"I would think twice before I say what I want to." She warned him with a sharp glare before slamming out of the shrine. She began jogging down the shrine steps and turned left. It had been a while since she'd been in Tokyo, and renovations to her district threw her several times. Most people jogging at this hour had a companion or two, but she didn't.

She supposed that was why when she heard footsteps join behind hers, she knew they were following her. In a challenge, she sped up. They matched her speed. "Kagome, wait." Growled a voice—the one she had thought she heard earlier in the house. But like before, this voice was in her head.


	11. Dog

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I have created a mission. It is to cover the entire FF world with HieiKago love and then when I have massed an army of HieiKago fanfiction, we will march on to rule the UNIVERSE! Bwahahaha! (I still don't own.)_

Chapter eleven: Dog

_"Kagome…wait…"_ the voice growled again inside her mind. She was slowly going mad, she thought. The footsteps in the snow continued to pad after her. The wind that tore her hair out of its perfect bun was icy. Her throat burned with the increasing effort to breathe.

Against her better judgment, she looked behind her. A mangled and bloodied, three legged dog struggled to keep up with her pace. She slowed at the sight of it, relieved that at least she wasn't going insane. Memories continued to flood her mind at the sight of that dog.

"You cannot keep up with me any longer… I shall dispose of your filth…" said the man as he looked at her with stunningly cruel golden eyes. He raised his right arm, two fingers extended. A green glow formed between the two extended claws.

"You gave me your word…" Kagome remembered how her voice sounded more like begging than anything else. She remembered feeling pitiful and weak when faced with the powerful demon who ruled the Western Lands five hundred years ago. "You said if I gave you what you wanted, you would release me from the slave pens to return home."

A smile curled the corner of his lips, making her shake with fear. She didn't like to see that smile. She knew he smiled to unnerve her. "I said I would release you from the slave pens… I never said I would let you live. Are you not happy you will not be a slave any longer?"

Kagome watched the dog warily as it approached. It left bloody footprints in the snow and finally crumpled at her feet. She glared at it with a cold look on her face. How dare he come to her now? After all these years, when she had almost suppressed her memories completely, everything was tearing her past forward to the present.

Her life was colliding into itself, and she didn't like it. She didn't like it one bit.

_"Kagome…"_ the voice said in her mind, seeming exhausted.

"Not liking your body yet, are you?" she asked the dog. One gold eye stared up at her, enshrouded in the red of a popped blood vessel. "You shouldn't have come near me." She warned him. "You said yourself, Toshiro will find me if we are close."

She nudged the half-dead dog with her foot and he struggled to rise. _"Toshiro left to find you eight years ago… with my permission… but he has not returned…"_ the dog's voice rang in her mind. The implications of what the dog spoke to her struck fear in her heart, though at the same time she questioned why she should care.

"Why?" she demanded, kneeling before the dog to look into its eyes. She grasped the dog's chin in her hand, feeling the caked blood crumbling. The dog didn't fear her or her power, but she supposed he wouldn't. "You made me swear on my blood that I would stay away from Toshiro. You made me swear… Why did you tell him where I was?"

The dog's strength wavered slightly and he nearly tipped over again. _"Kagome…"_ His eyelids fell to half-mast. _"He wanted to meet his mother… I could not say no… he would have gone with or without my blessing. I only hoped he had found you and stayed with you." _

"No, I have not seen him… Is this why you come to me? You were at the shrine, weren't you?"

_"I was for a while…" _

Kagome crossed her arms over her chest, feeling absolutely no urge inside her to help the man-dog who was about to collapse. Why would she? He put her through hell, literally. She was obligated to no one to help him. "Why would you wait eight whole years before searching for him? That was your lack wit mistake, _LORD _Sesshoumaru."

She was mocking him and she was enjoying herself. _"I didn't think he wouldn't return, so I waited."_ The dog's voice spoke in her mind still. She felt the dawn approaching before it would come and knew it was four in the morning. She'd woken up so many times to the clock at this hour…

"You didn't think…?" she scoffed, wanting to kick the broken dog, but knowing his demon instincts would kick in even while he was injured and in dog form. He would bite her, and who knew if he had any diseases these days?

_"That's right,"_ Sesshoumaru the dog growled, clearly not liking her tone of voice. Well, that also brought up the question, did she care what he liked? Not particularly. _"Toshiro was no pinch cheeked boy. He could take care of himself. But that he did not find you like he intended, and that he had a direct way to get straight to you… and that you have not seen him… I must admit I am worried now."_

"How did you get so injured?" She demanded. Early morning joggers skirted around her and the dog, giving her pale glances as if disapproving of her talking to a dog like he would respond.

_"A car—"_

She didn't even let him finish before she found herself holding her sides, laughing so hard she forgot to breath and it became mere wheezes. Sesshoumaru was run over by a car? The once-great dog-demon of the west was humbled by a car? More-over, by the creation of mankind?

Perhaps there was hope for the demon race after all? Humans could teach them humility… to be humble… to bow before their superiority…

_"Not likely,"_ Sesshoumaru growled, clearly reading her mind like she was an open book. _"Humans are as pathetic now as they were then. These wounds will heal… if it were you, you would have died instantly."_

She waggled her finger at him in rebuke, still amused. "Now, you know that isn't true at all. If it were me, I wouldn't have wandered into the road to begin with. Besides… how many times…" she trailed off, pushing the memory away that wanted to surge forth. Her breath caught in her throat, a gasp at a pained memory.

Sesshoumaru limped toward her on his three legs, a low sound coming from his throat that she considered a laugh. _"A pathetic existence for the priestess?"_ he whispered in her mind, the memory dragging back up with more force. He was assisting that, wasn't he? Why couldn't people just let sleeping dogs lie, no pun intended? _"How did you get into the slave pens, priestess? Why did your existence come to my eyes? Why did I taste that immense power that was unrelenting?"_

A memory… A pain…

"Naraku, you bastard! You hurt Kagome! I'll kill you for it!" A young man with puppy ears and silver hair floated in her vision, his face filled with rage. Kagome remembered the arm wrapped around her waist, the soft lips that pressed against hers, the barrier that surrounded the two to protect them from harm momentarily.

Tetsusaiga turned a bright scarlet; Inuyasha had full intent to attack the barrier with his trusty sword. Those lips pulled away from hers and Kagome found herself staring helplessly up into the eyes of her enemy; a whore, she remembered thinking, was what she was. A whore who had a sudden burning desire for power and to master that power.

"Face it, Inuyasha!" The clay impersonation of a long dead priestess yelled across the battle field, raising her bow at Naraku. "She has betrayed you, and Naraku is using your love for her against you. Kill her, or he will ask her to kill you!" Kikyou had said 'ask' not 'demand'. Kagome remembered that much.

How fair could it be that Kikyou knew Kagome would do it if she were just asked… Just for the power she could possess…

"Kagome! I love you; what more can I give you? I know I don't deserve you! I know I can't give you everything you want like that idiot Hojou back in your world… I know I can't be perfectly open like that ass Kouga, but I… I don't want to lose you…" Inuyasha had fallen to his knees. Tears streamed from his eyes as he looked around the battlefield.

There was the giant hole that Miroku's wind tunnel had created when it ate him alive. Miroku's gravesite. There was Sango's body, a slash across her front extending from her left shoulder to right hip. It had been from a sword wound. She was killed by… No, Inuyasha couldn't admit it… he couldn't admit that Kagome had done it…

But Kagome knew. Her mind knew.

"I can't lose you…" Inuyasha continued. Crimson eyes swam in Kagome's vision. "Kagome, please, snap out of it… You once told me no matter how many times I betrayed you, you would wait for me… Well, I'm waiting for you!"

_"Heh… You killed them all. Betrayal… a sweet betrayal… like I did to you… and you did to me. It is give and take in this world, is it not?"_ Sesshoumaru's voice in her head knocked her out of the haunting memory. She found she had backed herself into a wall. _"How does it feel to know you have blood on your hands that will never wash away?"_

"Go away!" Kagome hissed at the dog finally. "Before I use every ounce of myself to curse your pathetic being!" She didn't want these memories. Why did she have to deal with it? Why couldn't Toshiro just be happy not knowing her? She brought tragedy to everything she touched.

A little voice in the back of her mind objected to that notion. If she brought tragedy to everything, then why would Terrence want to see her again? Why would Jillian be so happy to see her every day that she would come into work? Why would Souta be happy that she was staying in Tokyo with him instead of returning to Saiza?

_"You already cursed me once,"_ Sesshoumaru laughed. _"Just doing that caused such a rebound that you took on my personality for a very long time. Do you dare to see what the next rebound causes, untrained priestess?"_

"You assume I'm the same as I was back then!" She reasoned with herself that the threat wasn't a bluff. "I've trained myself to perfection."

_"Have you? Have you really? So you accept the truth of what happened in the past?"_ She fell silent, pressing herself against the wall further. She wished it would just absorb her and she could become part of the stone. _"I thought so… You long for the death I could have given you back then… But now not even I could kill you completely, could I? You've been absorbed, just as you absorbed the power of the Jewel."_

"…What do you want from me?" she demanded, trying not to cry, but failing. The truth was hard to accept, and she wasn't going to try. She pressed the memories down. Maybe if she just walked forward a few steps… There was a car coming toward her direction at high speeds…higher than the posted speed limit…

_"Your assistance finding Toshiro…"_ The dog's strength wavered a little again. He was losing blood. Not even demons could fight the extreme loss of blood. He would need help very soon… help she would not give. She was a doctor, not a veterinarian. Oh how she hated dogs so very much. Couldn't she just shoot this one?

Problem one: no bullet. Problem two: no gun with which to use non-existent bullet. Problem three: he would probably just get annoyed and bite her before dying a miserable death, thereby giving her rabies or some equally vicious disease which may or may not be fun to get over.

With a sigh, she responded, "I have a lot of work to do. I have debts to pay off, bills to continue paying, and I have to take care of my brother." That was a lie. Souta didn't need taking care of, but she threw it in there anyway. "I still don't have a job yet, and I already know the collections agencies are coming next month to start repossessing my family things."

_"I'll pay you."_ Sesshoumaru reasoned. _"Name your salary. Toshiro is your son."_

"I don't even know what he looks like!" Kagome snapped. "You want me to care for someone I never even got to see or hold after I gave birth to him?" Another couple of women jogging by looked at her with wide eyes. She blushed and forced a smile. "Sorry, rehearsing for a musical…"

The ladies seemed to accept this and continued on their way. However, Sesshoumaru was still in front of her, laughing in her mind. She wanted to kick this arrogant dog demon. _"You've finally lost it. You're talking to a dog."_

Kagome shot up in bed, gasping for breath. What a nightmare… A knock on her bedroom door turned her eyes to the left. "Aiko?" called her brother's voice. "Aiko, there's someone here to see you. He said he has official business to discuss…"


	12. Master

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: Feathergriffin and I are writing a story together and will be posting the first chapter to it within the next week. Please view my profile for a link to our shared profile. I do not own the characters used herein, whether they are "Yu Yu Hakusho", or "Inuyasha" based._

Chapter twelve: Master

Souta stepped up to the man, bowed politely, and murmured, "May I take your coat, sir?"

The man shrugged out of his heavy brown rain-coat and allowed Souta to take it from him. Underneath the brown rain-coat, he wore a green checked sweater with a turtle collar and comfortable, broken in black slacks. His pale face was scruffy, as if he hadn't shaved in a few days, and his blue hair was a bit greasy probably from lack of showering, and there were four clumps of green that hung down over his left eye. His blue eyes looked tired, but determined.

From the way he looked alone, she assumed he was a demon. From the presence of his incredible aura and the way it chilled her to the bone, she assumed Ice Elemental demon.

Kagome remained silent and kept any semblance of a smile from her face. It wasn't hard; from the way he held himself, she guessed this man either loved the work he did and liked the people he worked for, or hated the work he did but had no other option to continue forward in his profession.

Souta was unnerved by the silence, and Kagome watched her brother make a hasty retreat.

Kagome wondered why the man was out of police uniform for the most part. He was dressed almost as if he were going to a family reunion of some sort. Perhaps he was, she mused, and just stopped for a moment to visit the shrine. Unlikely.

Kagome had dressed professionally, of course. A dark velvet suit-skirt, her hair pinned up in a tight bun, her glasses on her nose. Someone had come looking to speak with her, so she would not disappoint them by greeting them like a slob.

They were in the in Kagome's mother's study. The man scratched his scruffy chin, observing his surroundings with only the barest of glances, though he seemed to absorb everything at the same time. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Ms Soruisa." He said.

Kagome felt her lips turn down in a frown. "Short notice?" she couldn't help but scoff. She had been given no notice at all that he was coming; he basically just showed up. "Our notification standards seem to be at ends," she murmured. "Please, make this quick. I have pressing business to take care of today." She was going to fax her ex-boss yesterday, but it didn't happen, so she had to do it still.

"Oh, this won't take too long, I'm sure." He nodded. "I'm sure you know why I am here."

"In regards to an investigation into an incident that occurred in Saiza Park, I assume," Kagome nodded briefly. "The man whom I happened upon was injured grievously." 'Happened upon' was a good lie. "I do not know how he came to get that way," oh, she had a pretty good idea though, "though it looked like there was a fight."

"Good guess," the man said. "By the way, my name is Touya. I'm sure you're wondering about my odd looks," he added almost as an afterthought.

She felt a smile tickle at the corners of her lips, though it wasn't one of amusement. "Not particularly. I find myself abhorring the idea of caring a wit."

"Must be the years of slavery that did that to you," Touya's icy eyes were filled with a mixture of pity and amusement at her surprise. She managed to keep that surprise from her face, though one eyebrow did raise itself. "Curious yet?"

"Not particularly. State your business and then leave so I can get on with my day."

"I'm here because your fingerprints were found on a weapon—on a sword—found very nearby to the crime scene. I'm not here on the human police force's side, but rather, I'm here for your Master." Touya's fingers twitched and little icicle particles fell from the tips of his fingers like tears and came to rest on the carpeting.

She didn't like him in his current clothes, she thought. He'd look better in anything, _anything_, but a checked sweater and slacks. In fact, she didn't like this man at all, she decided. Anyone who worked for _him_ couldn't be liked.

Men could not be trusted, she reminded herself firmly. They were to be hated, loathed, killed, cursed. Men wanted only to torture women, to have them cook and clean and ready for bed. Men wanted to enslave women.

Touya continued at her silence. "He wants to speak to you, in person, in private. By the end of the week," Touya said, "or he'll make sure it looks like you were closely involved in the incident in the park. If you comply, he'll make sure that all evidence is destroyed. He also said to tell you that it involves a certain person you both know."

Kagome felt angry to hear the threats. "Do not assume I fear his wrath, and do not assume I fear humans. I would not need his help to stamp these false accusations, nor would I desire his help. Let my _ex_-Master know that if he attempts to involve himself in my life and the workings of it, I will do more than curse him."

Touya smirked. "Tell him yourself. He resides in the Spirit World, if you dare."

'The Spirit World,' Kagome thought. What was that?

Touya continued once more, "I am not your lap dog. I simply cut a deal with him. Now my job is over, and I can get back to _my_ life." He stepped around her, walking out of her study to leave her very unnerved. So, what is the Spirit World? Was it an actual 'world' as the name implied, or was it just some sort of business or maybe an apartment complex title?

Souta came into the study moments later to find Kagome had collapsed into her mother's desk chair and placed her face in her hands. "Aiko, what did he want?" Souta asked with worry apparent in his face and voice as he closed the gap between them and put his arms around her.

Like a lover, she thought. He was her brother, not her lover though. It wasn't right. Then again, him being gay didn't seem right either, but he was.

Maybe everything in the past few days was a bad dream? Maybe she'd wake up and find herself back in Saiza, once more with the option to wander from her path or continue on forward. That—that paralyzed demon had started everything…

No, that wasn't right either. It started when her mother and grandfather died in a car accident.

And even that wasn't right. It started right here on the property. It started with Bouyou in the old, forgotten, dried up well-house. It started with a young, carefree boy who was searching for that self-same cat. It started with her concern that if she didn't help Souta find Bouyou, he would be late to school. It started… with Mistress Centipede, and a burst of light called _power_.

So blaming the demon would be an inaccuracy.  
"Aiko…" Souta murmured softly in her ear, his hands massaging her shoulders, his lips brushing the flesh on her neck. "Please, don't be upset… I'll see if Shuichi can help with the bills…"

Her skin felt like it was on fire. It was hard to remember that Souta wasn't the same as other males; he wasn't trying to dominate her for the power she could bring, he was just trying to bring her comfort in the only way he knew how. He'd forgotten they were related, because he grew up without her for so long.

Usually she had no problem with Souta's touches, with his hands on her upper arms, trying to rub warmth into her flesh, but lately there was just too much memory, too many old wounds opened, and too many people rubbing salt in those wounds to further amplify the damage.

She turned hard in her seat, her hand shoving him away from her. It only benefited her that she couldn't unconsciously use her power as she should be able to, because he would be dead if she did. As it was, he clacked his head on the filing cabinet behind him and moaned in pain.

She wasn't thinking right; her mind screamed at her to leave this place, to move where no one would ever find her. She could become a hermit in some unknown mountain someplace. She could find an island and sink her ship. She could hide deep in some uncharted forest.

Anywhere, _anywhere_, but here. Her mind begged her to leave, but her heart couldn't leave Souta. Not now. Not with the extreme debt their mother left them. Not ever.

She was in too deep.

"Souta," she fell from the chair and crawled to him, reaching to examine the bump. "I'm sorry… you know I didn't mean it…"

"You've got a lot on your mind," Souta said, a watery smile coming to his face as he winced. Her fingers pulled away a dab of blood, but it wasn't anything serious. Just a little broken skin, and it would heal in a day or two. "Aiko, you don't have to stay… Shuichi and I can take care of things here."

She shook her head. "I've made up my mind," such lies she spoke must surely be treason, "and it is to stay. Where is Shuichi now?"

"Work," Souta said. "They called him in just before you came back from your jog last night."

Kagome nodded her acceptance to this answer. "I have to run a few errands today yet. Will you need me for anything, Souta?" He shook his head. "I shall probably be late arriving back this evening. Don't wait up for me." He nodded this time. She stood and smoothed herself free of wrinkles. A pat to make sure her hair was intact still in its perfect bun and she was heading for the door. At the front door she pulled on her black high heels.

She needed to figure out where she would put the paralyzed demon in the house. She could probably clean up Grandpa's old library. The books, scrolls, and tomes would probably fetch a pretty penny toward clearing up the debt. All those ancient artifacts too could be sold to museums. And it would be easily accessed, since it was on the first floor.

She needed a drink. Maybe alcohol would help her forget her past? Maybe alcohol would keep her past from continuing to rise up.

Next chapter: Trying to hide from her past, she drinks a glass of alcohol. "I hate alcohol," she says as she downs a second glass. "I never drink," she says as she drinks the third. The fourth drink is taken right out of the bottle, as the glass was thrown into a wall out of anger, and shattered into thousands of pieces like her shattered soul.


	13. Alcohol

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: Feathergriffin and I are writing a story together. Please view my profile for a link to our shared profile, and read and review that story too. I do not own the characters used herein, whether they are "Yu Yu Hakusho", or "Inuyasha" based._

Chapter thirteen: Alcohol

In a perfect world, there are rules. The therapist never needs therapy. The teacher never needs to be taught. The judge is never judged. The lawyer never needs defense. The cop is never arrested. And the doctor never needs care.

But the world wasn't perfect. The therapist that needs help ends up in a psyche ward. The teacher that needs to be taught cannot teach. The judge that is judged does not rule. The lawyer that needs a defense will no longer defend. The cop that is arrested is on the wrong side of the law. And the doctor that needs care will die.

Kagome looked at the cool glass in her hand as she thought of this theory with a sort of half-smile on her face. Inside the glass was amber colored liquid. She could remember eyes that were that color. Amber eyes surrounded in blood. Such a funny picture, she thought.

"That man should have cleaned himself up," she muttered. She looked at the cup with amusement and said with a laugh, "This is gross. I know now why I do not drink. But I poured it, so I will drink it now." She continued to drink the glass, sipping it like it were something to be savored. She found the taste wretched and decided that it would not do to continue drinking the open bottle.

She remembered her mother when she was young. Kagome must have been only five or six years old at the time, but she couldn't remember for sure. Her mother had been furious, and all the time she was drinking. Souta wasn't old enough to remember it, but Kagome remembered that time.

"You wretched child!" her mother would say to Kagome if she got near. Her mother was hardly ever more than a few feet away from Souta. She had a hip sling for the boy, and she would coast around the kitchen taking drinks of alcohol even as she busied herself with dishes or whatever she was doing. If Kagome got too close, then Souta would be put in a high chair and her mother would get out an old wooden spoon.

Kagome remembered being very afraid of her mother for the longest time if she put Souta down. During that time, when Kagome's father had died, her mother was an emotional train wreck. She would be set off by the smallest thing. She would adore Souta, spoiling him with toys and treats. But Kagome was just a wretched child.

Kagome looked at her glass again with a frown. "Who filled it?" she wanted to know. She didn't. She told herself she would finish the glass and then quit, since the drink was so horrible, and it burned as it fell down her throat. But she was not wasteful.

"You wretched child!" she heard her mother's voice echoing inside the kitchen. It forced her to look around in a vain attempt to find the older woman. "Of course you filled it. You took it, now you drink it, or so help me I will get the spoon!"

Kagome shook her head to clear it and drank the liquid again. It wasn't fair that Souta could be so peaceful all the time. That he could be so happy. He really didn't have any idea of the state of affairs in the shrine. He knew he loved the home he grew up in, and Kagome couldn't let him lose it.

But it was taking a piece of her to do so. She'd sent the fax off to Saiza earlier that day, so within a few days time her paralyzed patient would be in her home. She still didn't have any place set up so he could be housed though. The doctors would be coming the next day, before her patient arrived, to see that she had suitable arrangements for accommodating him.

But here she was, drinking herself drunk and stupid. She was killing brain cells with this acid-boiling liquid. She found it ridiculous that anyone could possibly spend an entire evening after work just drinking. For one, it was unproductive as she was finding out now. There were a great deal many other things that she could have been doing at that moment.

Like cleaning out the old storage room for her patient, or scrubbing the filthy house from top to bottom, or shoveling the flurried snow from the shrine stairs and salting them. Or attempting to get through the well…

No, that part of her was behind her. She couldn't get through. She wouldn't want to if she could. Hands touching her, pulling her back and forth through a crowd of hungry gatherers, people who desired not food but another type of sustenance. Power, they wanted power.

"I hate drinking," she said quietly, hearing a slur in her voice as her hands poured yet another drink but her mind didn't register the movements. Her mind forgot to catch up with her, and she drank not from the cup, but from the bottle.

"It doesn't seem like that now!" cackled her mother's voice, the same cold, crisp voice she'd used when Kagome was five. Kagome snapped at the sound of a shattering noise and looked around, trying to figure out what made the nose.

She was standing in a pool of liquid; the bottle was smashed on the wall of the kitchen, just above the stove where her mother used to stand with Souta on her hip. "Shut up!" she heard herself screaming. She grabbed the cup and downed the liquid in one massive chug.

"Look at you! You're just like me. Stupid, wretched child!"

"I'm not like you!" Kagome screamed, throwing the glass with all her might at the hazy image of a hallucination of her mother. The glass passed through and hit the wall like the bottle had. "I'm not like you!" She toppled over and crawled across the dirty floor to the corner she used to cower in.

"I'm not like you," she whispered. "Not like you… I'm just different… I'm not like you…"

In the back of her mind, she knew something was terribly wrong. Something was wrong and it needed to be fixed. But she wasn't sure she would ever be able to fix it. She was a slave, but she no longer had a master. She was a child, but she no longer had a mother. She was a mother, but she no longer had a child.

"Damn you," she sobbed. "Damn you all to hell!"

Why did she pick up the alcohol? Why?

All she wanted was something wet. Something to moisten her dried out mouth. Without thinking, she grabbed the first thing she could think of. And it brought up memories of her childhood. It brought up the irony that she was sick and she knew it, but she wasn't like other doctors.

She couldn't die from this sickness. She couldn't die period. She had tried so many times. What could they do to her in the slave pens? Nothing. They could do nothing to inflict that fatal wound so she wouldn't have to go to her final master. She only went with him because without him it was an eternity of suffering in the pens.

But with him, she was promised that she would see her family again soon if she just fulfilled one promise to him. He wanted his heir, and he wanted her to be the one to give it to him. It was all she had to do. She agreed when he promised she would see her family again.

Then he took all that away from her. He had his heir, by her blood and his, and he took the child from her the instant she gave birth. The child, a boy, was given to a wet nurse to be taken care of. She didn't shed a tear for the loss, because she didn't want it.

She only wanted to go home. She didn't want to be in the feudal era any more. She didn't want to live the tortured life she had. She didn't want to remember those faces, those looks of betrayal. She wanted a normal life, to grow up with her girlfriends and giggle over boys.

Instead, she had been thrown into some ragged old place where no one she would ever know in the future could ever know about. Where no one she had ever met in the past would still even exist in the future. She wanted _out_ of that world, and into a new, better, less painful one.

She wanted to be rid of the memories. These memories that burned her so much, and that face that loved her yet was so betrayed by her. She wanted power. She still wanted power. She was greedy. She wanted the best position in the hospital for power. She was on her way up.

And now this? A trip to the past, and her memories. Everything falls apart. Just one small drop of alcohol and she was freaking out. Never mind the several glasses later factor.

What about her son? What about the boy she had never met? The child she hadn't loved?

**This chapter was long in the making, even though it took a few hours. I thank you for your patience. Please review! 10-review rule in place. That's just crazy... no really, it is.**


	14. Power

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: Feathergriffin and I are writing a story together. Please view my profile for a link to our shared profile, and read and review that story too. I do not own the characters used herein, whether they are "Yu Yu Hakusho", or "Inuyasha" based._

Chapter fourteen: Power

"I have your lunch all ready for you," Kagome told her patient as she entered what had been a storage room. It had taken a great deal of time and effort to get the room cleaned up and available for a patient who would be there for an indefinite amount of time. But it was worth it. He'd only just gotten to her earlier that morning; that meant he was on the road all night.

She kicked the door to the storage room shut with her foot. Souta and Shuichi had gone out for the day, so she didn't have to worry about nosy busybodies hovering about the door. He looked like he was sleeping, but she knew better.

She set the tray on his lap. "Now, tell me about the hell dragon," she said as she made herself busy with the task of checking his pulse and timing it. The memory of yesterday, and her drunken episode, burned in her mind. She couldn't believe she hadn't realized she was the one serving herself. It would only be logical to believe it, since she had been the only one there.

And then, her mother, the haunting memory of her from Kagome's childhood. How had she let those memories come up? Because she had let them, they brought up other memories all equally painful.

She pulled herself away from those thoughts. It did no good to think about it now too. Instead, she concentrated on the demon before her. He hadn't moved to take the food, and he hadn't moved to demand she heal him--which she couldn't anyway. She wrote his pulse down on his daily chart, looking once more at his name. 'Hiei,' she thought. 'Where have I heard that?'

He also hadn't moved to tell her about the hell dragon. He had agreed he would tell her whatever she wanted to know about it if she got him moved here. He must have known she wouldn't send him back to Saiza and Doctor Ahishimoru. That was why he wasn't talking.

She said thoughtfully, "Ah, yes... Souta mentioned you. That's where I know of you, and you fit the description." She closed the chart and leered over him. She didn't care who he was, or how powerful he thought he was. She would have her curiosity sated, even if it took months. A smirk crossed her features. "And it isn't like you'll be going anywhere for a long while," she whispered.

Finally he opened his eyes to look at her. There was a logical, but angry glow in them. He knew everything she was thinking, of this she had no doubt. "Make yourself comfortable, Hiei..." she told him. "Because very shortly you're going to wish they were doing tests on you in Saiza."

She stood up straight, adjusting her blouse for a second as he seethed. He felt helpless, and she knew it. It was the first time she had ever enjoyed someone's true helplessness. Sure, he could try getting up. His arms were probably strong enough to hold the rest of his body up, but his legs wouldn't work, and they'd just flop like a rag doll's limbs. He knew this. She knew this.

"Witch," he finally spat.

She reached out, taking a grape from his tray to pop it in her mouth. She was the one in power here... and she was going to enjoy it. She was a slave without a master, and this demon before her was nothing more than a dog to her. She would have him trained soon enough to respond not just on command, but on sight.

He could read her mind, so he would know her questions before they left her mouth. She thought, how it must have felt for her master to control her. Her master had known her fears, her hopes, her weaknesses, and her strengths. He had stripped all that from her in the end, and this must have been how he felt.

Sesshoumaru must have felt the awesome power she felt now, looking at this demon. Her smile spread wider and crueler as the minutes of silence stretched, and his eyes narrowed further. This was a game he hadn't played in a long time... and it had been even longer since he'd been on the receiving end. She wouldn't be caught off guard this time. He wouldn't frighten her into old memories dragging up.

She finally said, "Eat." Oh, yes... she would find out about his hell dragon. The thing had attempted to attack her when she had changed his bandages on his arms the other day, as they were fairly nasty looking. Of course, its attack failed.

And she would learn why Shuichi and those two other men were in Morrissey park...why they were in _her_ park. There were innumerable things she would learn. She would have fun, too. She would enjoy herself because "What goes around, comes around".

She didn't wait for him to start eating. She turned heel, walking away from him. He didn't like this, but she didn't care. Soon, he would hate her, but he would do whatever she asked if it was in his power to do it. He would push himself to the limits to get better, if only to escape her, but soon even that hope of getting better would disappear.

How had she come to be this way? She wasn't sure. She'd been seeking power. Maybe that was how. With every degrading comment to her lacking abilities, she found her desire to be stronger than her previous incarnation grow to immense proportions. Then, when that power wouldn't come to her with _them_, she found it elsewhere.

She was a traitor... She shut the door behind her, leaving her patient alone to his angry little thoughts.

But they didn't have to haunt her for it... "He was our enemy... why? Why'd you do it?" But too late. For years, the memories were being fed to her by ghosts, whispered in her ears at inopportune moments, and whittling her down. If she could grasp onto power once again, she could force the ghosts back. She especially needed something to hang onto with the addition of being right on top of where it all happened...

Right on top of the graves... Those graves all hidden beneath the courtyard. She walked out of the shrine's main building to look upon the God tree, where her journey had first begun five hundred years earlier. To her non-surprise, it was still standing there... still mocking her... still protecting the bones of those she'd helped put in their graves.

Power... was all she had left. She needed nothing else. Power would keep the memories away. Power would keep the demons at bay. And power was what she desired. She didn't need alcohol. She would never touch the stuff again especially after yesterday. It was only a good thing that Souta had not seen her like that. Then she would really have felt like dying; to let him see her like that would be murder on its own.

Tomorrow... tomorrow she would whittle down at Hiei... and see if he knew anything about the Spirit World. She would forgive him for the moment on the hell dragon. For now... even though she didn't consider herself concerned about the damage those prints on that sword would do, she did have to prove to her master that she was not his slave anymore. And she had to find a job because now she had yet another mouth to feed...

**I'm thinking this story is hard to write. What are you thinking?**


	15. Reflection

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: This story is the most horrible thing known to man. It has given me troubles of ungodly proportions. In spite of this, I do not own anything from the "Inuyasha" universe, and neither do I own anything from the "Yu Yu Hakusho" universe. _

Chapter Fifteen:  
Reflection

"Dinner is wonderful tonight, Souta," Kagome lied as she forced down overcooked stew. Certainly it was better than last night's burnt pork chops, being that it at least had a little moisture to it, but it still had that vile, burnt aftertaste.

Souta looked eagerly at the man he would eventually be married to, expectant of an answer to his 'how's dinner' question. Souta's burning passion to cook something that met Shuichi's standards oversaw any sense the young boy should have taken pride in.

Shuichi smiled and opened his mouth to answer but his phone rang then and he had to excuse himself to take the call. Kagome could understand how work calls might be important enough to take precedence over family; she herself would have taken the call. However, Souta's disappointment shadowed the kitchen in a morose gloom.

Moments later, Shuichi re-entered the kitchen and wrapped his arms around his lover from behind. He whispered to Souta softly in a voice that showed deep regret. "Work called. We have a new case; I'm sorry. I'll probably be gone a few days with this one."

Souta clearly felt put out. He said nothing in response, and Shuichi sighed and left the house. Just as soon as the front door was heard closing, Souta stood up. "I need some fresh air." He declared and he took off.

Kagome knew it was hurting her brother greatly to have Shuichi leaving for work at all hours of the night. Souta didn't even have a clue about what Shuichi really was, so she wondered if their relationship would work out at all.

Left alone, Kagome didn't bother finishing the awful food her brother had cooked and began feeding it to the garbage disposal. Even that didn't want to eat it and it ground angrily. She'd felt the presence moments before it came; an aura like that was difficult to hide.

Then he was there in her kitchen. She refused to turn and look at her once-master. She could feel him standing by the table, and when she turned to grab another plate of food to give to the garbage disposal, she saw he was in man form.

_By night, man you will be, Sesshoumaru. But by day, you are cursed to be as you truly are: a dog. _

She smiled. She could feel the curse throbbing just beneath the surface of his skin. "Five hundred years and you still haven't gotten rid of the curse, eh?" she asked him coldly, prideful of her work. He didn't smile back at her. He glowered.

"You've ignored my call." He pointed out.

She continued cleaning up the kitchen. Five days had passed since a man came to the shrine and threatened her on Sesshoumaru's behalf. She'd simply decided Sesshoumaru wasn't worth her time and effort and didn't heed the warning. She wasn't Sesshoumaru's pet anymore. She didn't have to come the instant he snapped his fingers.

"Of course I have," she told him. "I have more important things to do than play with you."

She felt him cross the kitchen and come up behind her. Ten years ago, that would have made her melt in fear of him and she would have submitted to each of his whims. She would have let him toy with her body, rip at her just to watch her heal and lick the blood from his fingers.

Ten years ago she would have screamed in agony as he tore his claws down her stomach. Ten years ago she would have writhed beneath him as her blood stained the dyed red silk he kept on his bed. Ten years ago, her future depended on whether or not she could provide him with an heir.

But that was ten years ago. She wasn't his slave anymore. She was the Shikon no Tama now, in human, living form. She breathed the air of freedom, if not from her memories but at least freedom from him. She didn't answer to him.

He would learn that. Or he would die; either way she was immortal now, and he was not. She could not die, but he could be killed. Sickness and age might not affect him but he could be killed. She was impervious to sickness, age, and physical attack. Nothing could harm her that she would not heal from.

"Why will you not come? It is for Toshiro's sake." He questioned.

"Why will you not leave? It is for my own sake," she mimicked.

She was cursed. She cursed herself. In her lust for power, she gave up her humanity—she gave her sanity for this power, and it was a power she could not even access because she would not accept what happened. She would not learn to cope with the blood on her hands. But the ghosts weren't being kept at bay anymore. She could feel them circling her even as Sesshoumaru stood behind her.

"He is your son." Sesshoumaru pointed out.

"And you are trespassing." She walked around him and back to the table. More food was fed to the garbage disposal.

He reached out and grabbed the plate she was handling. "Toshiro is sick, woman. I will not stand by as my son dies. You have the power to heal him, and heal him you will!"

Finally she looked at him. He looked at her with fury in his gold eyes. He was going to do whatever it took to enlist her help… or try. As if she'd bend to his whims. "You're right about one thing… he's yours. I have had nothing to do with him since he was taken from me. I will not start now." She pulled the plate away, set it in the sink, and turned to wash her hands.

To wash her hands of him as much as the food on her fingers. She wiped her hands off on a towel. There was enough time yet to mop the kitchen before she would cook supper for her patient. Once he'd eaten she could do the dishes and then have plenty of time to vacuum the living room and clean the bathroom.

Anything to keep busy. Anything to keep the ghosts at bay. Anything to stay awake.

His presence wasn't helping her a single bit. She went into the cleaning cupboard and took out a broom and the dustpan. He simply stood there, staring at her like she was an alien. She was very unlike him, and she knew that. At the same time… she was worse than him. She was a danger as much to herself as to others.

It was so sad she knew this. She was the bane to mortal existence and like it or not, he was mortal. She was as close to the gods as anyone would ever be. If it meant she could die, she would take the mortal death. It would be an escape, and she would most certainly love that.

"What could I give you to persuade your help? Toshiro is dying of disease. He needs you."

"You could die." She said, not sparing him a single glance. Her voice was like ice daggers, and even she felt a chill though she showed none of this. "But then I will curse him to suffer as I have made you, just so you can hate me in the afterlife."

She began sweeping and he growled in anger. She only smiled as she swept the floor, but he could see that smile as a reflection in the patio door. She looked at his reflection. "There was a time when you would have jumped to help anyone on a whim." He told her.

She laughed, a cold and hurting sound. "Long, long ago. There was a time when you would never have stopped to ask for help. Don't start now…"

He clenched his fist, and seemed to simply fade out of existence like a ghost from her memories. She continued sweeping. Tonight, she would have no nightmares. She hoped. She would work herself to death so the nightmares were kept at bay; so the ghosts could not haunt her.

**This chapter was read and approved by Ancient-Relic. Thank you Anci! **


	16. Ghosts

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I believe I know what this story lacks… A plot… No wonder it was so hard to write! Time to go to the Plot Buffet!! Let us pray for the welfare of this story, and that it does not turn into the next TMtt-Freaking-F. I don't own… By the way, I'm a hypocrite and once more demanding reviews, though half of you won't read this to know it._

Chapter sixteen:  
Ghosts

_She felt Souta lace his fingers within hers in a form of comfort, but her heart was beating too fast to be stopped. She was sure it would burst from her chest at any moment with no notice given. _

_"Come on, Aiko… we can't stand here and stare at it all night. You'll have to come in sometime." Souta whispered as he took the key to the front gate from his pocket. The gate was something new, she realized. It had been built sometime after she had moved away. It was a large metal laced gate that raised ten feet into the air. _

_"I can't," Kagome told Souta, turning her eyes away from the sight of all those stairs. She used to run up those steps three at a time just to get to the well faster. She could still see the blood that had washed those steps—no. She couldn't bring those memories back. _

_"Yes, you can. I promise, nothing can happen here. Gramps put his best barriers around here. No one will find you here." His words were meant to be reassuring, but they were far from it. Didn't Souta know? Didn't he understand? Grandpa Higurashi was no priest. He had no spiritual powers to speak of. His sutras were as useless as a dead cat. _

_Bouyou. That fat cat… he shouldn't have gotten in the way. He might still… _

_"Aiko… you're scaring me." Souta said, pressing himself against the grate of the gate as if it might absorb him if he tried hard enough. _

_Kagome pulled herself back. She apologized quietly, "I can't, Souta. I can feel… their ghosts…" Her life was falling apart. She was falling apart. Souta didn't understand what she had to go through, and she knew he didn't mean anything by it either, but he was pushing her too hard toward something she wasn't ready to deal with. _

_"There's no such thing as ghosts, Aiko." Souta said. A droplet of blood dripped from his nose and she realized why he was afraid of her. She was too big for him. Her spirit, that is. It was too big, and standing here in a place of her old memories both good and bad—all repressed—was making her soul reach out. It wanted her to touch upon those memories, but she did only what she wanted to. _

_She turned away from the shrine to walk away, but somehow her feet were climbing the steps, one by one. She heard the whispers of voices. She heard the sounds of people long dead as she walked up, and she could see their faces turning toward her. "Kagome… why did you do it?" asked a lonely monk. _

_"I never thought for a minute that you would betray us…" whispered a sad woman with a boomerang on her back and a tiny kitten in her arms. The two-tailed cat mewled and the sound brought Kagome to tears. She walked up more steps. There, waiting at the top of the stairs, was a man with cold golden eyes and not a single laugh line to be seen on his features. _

_She stumbled on the very last step at the sight of him. He did not have the feel of the ghost standing beside him. The man and the ghost harbored similar features. The ghost was looking at the man with utter hate etched into every line and groove of his face. _

_The ghost turned to Kagome and whispered—unheard by the man, "You were **his**. I died for you!" The man did not catch Kagome as she stumbled. She fell to her knees and her pristine suit-skirt tore at the hem. "I died for **you**." The ghost screamed. _

_Kagome blinked back damp tears, and the man and ghosts were gone; Souta was helping her to her feet. "Did you see them?" she demanded of Souta. "They were here!" _

_Souta shook his head. "No one is here, Aiko. I think you're just tired…" _

_Kagome fought against Souta. "I'm not tired! I have to leave. I have to leave now. Let me go!" _

_Souta ground his teeth together, but he released her. He let her go hard and she fell to the ground. Souta snapped, "There's nothing here! Stop acting like that!" _

Kagome sat up in bed, panting heavily as the darkness of the room descended on her and her alarm clocks blared in her ears. She sat there, attempting to calm herself for a moment from the nightmare she should not have had. Her body pouring sweat, she left the warmth of the bed for the cold air.

Her window was open, she saw. She crossed to it, still painfully aware that four clocks were screaming at her. For a moment, she peered out the window, her head spinning as she tried to focus on something other than the nightmare.

Souta was outside, sitting on the bench under the Goshinboku tree, with what looked to be a giant bowl of pudding in his hands. He ate it slowly while his eyes watched the stairs leading down from the shrine to the city. Shuichi had said a few days, but it had been two weeks already since his departure.

Kagome went and shut off her alarms and then showered in cold water. She might have hot water now, but there was no point in making herself comfortable, was there? She dressed for yet another day of job-searching. It was hard to make ends meet, but she was receiving checks from a benefactor to pay bills and only Souta had been able to convince her to use the money.

She hadn't wanted to, knowing it was from Sesshoumaru as he attempted to get on her good side. He wanted her to heal his son, and he came twice a week to demand she do so. But he never brought up the issue of money and how he gave her some and she used it. He could have, but for some reason he did not.

Once she had a steady job that would pay the bills, she could ignore the checks. "Return to sender" on every one that came. She sighed and went to make her patient's breakfast. When she got into his room, he looked at her from his wheelchair by the window.

He'd learned quickly if he made her mad she would leave him and not return until the next day. The day before, he'd made her very angry at lunch time, so she'd left him in his wheelchair rather than helping him back into the bed where he would at least be a bit comfortable.

She set his breakfast on the table in the room and stepped aside as he wheeled over with a glowering look on his features. He didn't get supper the night before, so she supposed he was smartly keeping his mouth shut. She leaned on the edge of the sturdy old table, her proximity to him close enough that he would be able to reach out and grab her if he wanted.

"Going to tell me about the Hell Dragon yet?" she asked him. He'd kept his mouth tightly closed on that issue, even though he'd said he would tell her all she wanted to know.

His hand quivered on the spoon in anger before he turned angry crimson eyes on her. "Do you enjoy torturing me, woman?" he hissed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she responded evenly. She moved to leave him, but he dropped the spoon and grabbed her thigh in a powerful grip, stopping her. She glanced at him, knowing more than he clearly did how that touch was dragging the ghosts in.

_Twisting away from pain as he pinned her to red sheets and sliced open her body… writhing away from his touch as he attempted tenderness before he was angered and pulled her close, biting her, clawing at her even as he raped her and her body simply a mess as he left her on the red silk, red as much from dye as blood. _

"You have no idea?" he sneered, his crimson eyes flickering in the light emitted by a candle—but that wasn't right… there were no candles… Was it another memory? Another ghost to haunt her? No, she thought as she looked around the room. It had changed, shifted, as if time had split and this was far back. "I think you know damn well what I'm talking about!"

She pulled away from him, falling to a heap on the floor. She wrung her hands together. "What's going on?" she thought aloud. This wasn't right. The room seemed similar, but the lights were now emitting from the glow of candles in simple wall sconces.

He turned his wheelchair to her. His anger was clear. "You're doing this… You want to know why I came _looking_ for you? You of all people?" She did want to know. It had been at the forefront of her mind every time she looked at her patient after hearing Souta's story that the demon was looking for her and had sought him out to do it. She'd asked Hiei why—why her? Hadn't gotten an answer.

Hiei scowled. "Of course, you won't _remember_, because you refuse to accept anything that happened! But I came looking for you, because you _told_ me to find you. Now, I realize this would _never_ have happened if I hadn't come looking for you. I am paralyzed because of _you._"

She felt her jaw crash open, and stared up at him from her place on the floor. "And you? You won't bother to heal me, when you could as easily as I could set this place aflame…" he finished in a low voice. He turned back to his breakfast meal, but didn't eat it. He did not look at her as he spoke his next words. "You are _not_ the woman I knew."

She looked around the room. The candles were still there. Hiei's life monitors were not. There were no light switches. The bed that had once been a western-style frame with a mattress and box spring was now a futon on the floor.

She did this? How did she do it? She didn't remember doing it.

Kagome hurried out of the room, and as she was closing the door, she saw everything was back to the way it had been before. The candles were replaced by modern electricity. The futon with a modern bed. The monitors were back. And he still refused to look at her.

She closed the door and locked it, as she always did, so he couldn't leave the room. She couldn't face the past, and he brought it upon her, so she confined him to the one room. She left him there, so she could face him only when she was ready. He could not come upon her unbidden.

_I came because you told me to…_ The words, so innocent, she could not remember him. She could not remember telling anyone to find her. They were dead. All of them _died_. They died because she had a lust for power. They died because she was with Naraku. But what happened? What happened to get her away from Naraku? She could remember one minute, it was Naraku who ripped her apart by night, and flaunted her by day. Then the next minute it was Sesshoumaru and he was taking her out of the slave pens.

She didn't want to care. She wanted to believe she had no emotion for this, that it didn't matter. But how could she continue to tell herself that? The ghosts wanted to be remembered; they'd demanded they be brought back into her life with every passing moment.

And what the hell did she do to the room? Why did it suddenly feel as though she'd once more passed through the boundaries of time? Her life, was it all just a farce? Was she made simply to make a wish? Was she made to become the Shikon no Tama?

Yes… She was able to compose herself around the answer, so simple, yet so permanent. And then she saw her brother, sitting alone outside waiting for his lover to return. It wouldn't work out… life never did. It dished out unfairness like it were pasta.

She decided it was time to tell Souta. Brushing herself free of imaginary dust, she stepped out into the cool morning air. It was only five AM, but there Souta sat, eating his pudding with a lonely look on his face. She sat next to him, but he didn't see Kagome sitting there, he saw only Aiko.

It was a difference that stung for reasons on many levels. Kagome Higurashi was an object, but Aiko Soruisa was a person. Why?

She didn't even have to say anything before Souta was talking to her. "I never felt about anyone like I feel about Shuichi. He works, and he always, _always_ has a new game for one of my game consoles for me when he comes back. He likes watching me play my games. Is that weird?"

Kagome smiled at her brother and took the spoon from him, dipping it in the extra large bowl and eating a bit of the chocolate pudding. "It's not weird, but are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Souta shook his head. "I have no clue _what_ I'm doing. He asked me to marry him. He said he wanted me forever. I just said yes without thinking. I know I'm not doing the _wrong_ thing, but I still don't know what I'm doing." He began dipping his finger in the bowl to eat the pudding since she had his spoon. "I have college to go to, I know, but I already decided to give that up when you came back."

"You don't need to give up anything on my expense, Souta…" Kagome whispered.

Souta laughed sadly, "You're right… I don't need to, Aiko… But you gave up everything for me… I could at least be around to help."

She opened her mouth to say she didn't give up anything, even though it would be a lie, but noise stole her attention. The glass bowl of pudding fell out of Souta's hands and shattered on the ground. Kagome looked to see what he was looking at; Shuichi was being carried up the stairs in the gray of dawn by a tall, lanky orange haired man and a slightly shorter man with greasy black hair.

Neither of the other two looked in any sort of good condition, and Kagome recognized them as the two who had been in Morissey Park. If the two men carrying Shuichi looked bad, Kagome frowned at Shuichi's form. She knew it was him. The bright red hair made it obvious, but he was covered in blood and his right side was mangled.

Souta panicked as the men carried Shuichi closer, he fainted at the sight of the blood. Kagome caught her brother, barely saving him from a painful encounter with pudding covered glass shards. She laid him on the bench carefully and then made her way to Shuichi and the two men, who stopped.

"He told us to bring him here," said the black haired man. Kagome sighed but nodded.

"Bring him inside." Who did this? She wanted to know… She glanced back at her brother, unconscious on the bench, and wanted answers to the question of who would harm her brother's life, even indirectly through his lover. She discarded the fact that she had been about to tell her brother Shuichi's secret, that he was a demon, and there was a chance that would have killed her brother's love for the man.

Once inside, Kagome led them to the kitchen where she had them lay Shuichi on the table. The kitchen lights turned on, she took a knife from the drawer and cut away Shuichi's clothes, carefully peeling it away from his wounds. His right leg may be beyond help, she found quickly, and his right arm was a mess of ground flesh and bone—also out of her current abilities to do anything about.

But his torso would heal without too much damage and probably just be scarred, if she could sew the wounds up fast enough. She cursed the fact that she was no longer employed by a hospital where she had access to equipment that would be very helpful at that moment. But he wanted her to help him, and focusing in on him and his wounds was what she needed to push the ghosts away.

Her anger was building, however. The two men sat down on the other side of the table while she worked, cleaning and sterilizing the wounds before she sewed the wounds shut using thick thread and a regular sewing needle. They too needed attention, but at present, Shuichi was her main objective.

"Who did this?" she demanded heatedly. She hadn't felt this angry in years… since before the well sealed itself. The two men glanced at each other, as if unsure whether or not they should speak about it. Kagome merely said, "Tell me, or so help me, your next enemy will be _me_."

They must have seen something in her that said she was talking 'business' then, because the black haired one spoke up, "A demon named Hanagi. We've been tracking him for a few weeks now." Kagome packed that name away in her mind. She had no choice now… she would have to accept history, if only to be fully prepared for the future…

She looked down at the needle with disdain. She was running out of thread, and he was running out of blood. She positioned her hands over his heart and knew she would regret this by morning. She let the ghosts come at her. They came one by one, but with their coming, she could access the powers of the Shikon no Tama—what she was.

_"Inuyasha," she breathed, her body shuddering as he reached out to embrace her. This dream was different somehow, from the other nightmares. She wasn't horrified by him, like she should be. "Don't you hate me? Aren't you disgusted by what I am?" _

_He laughed quietly, his breath a whisper in her ear. "Disgusted? Woman, you've seen me eat… you should know nothing disgusts me." She couldn't find it in herself to smile at that. He held her for a moment longer before releasing her to brush her shoulders off. "You know what I think?" he asked her. _

_She shook her head. She didn't know if she wanted to know. She didn't know if she could handle it. _

_"I think you need to be with your family now… as Kagome. I think you need to give up this game of hiding. You need to stop thinking we hate you. We all made mistakes, and you won't even let yourself remember your own mistake properly. Stop torturing yourself." _

_Inuyasha faded away, but Sango came next, racing across the planes of sleep to greet Kagome in a far more cheerful manner than any other dream. There was no blood on her face this time. She smiled happily, and grabbed Kagome's hand, twining her fingers in Kagome's. _

_"You'll never guess what happened?" Sango beamed, pulling Kagome toward a strange grassy plane that Kagome never before had seen in her dreams. People swarmed here and there, as if it were their home. They were building homes, and had the light of hope shining in their eyes. A new beginning. _

_"What is this place?" Kagome asked, having a strange feeling she already knew. _

_Sango sighed happily as she looked around. "This is the place you made for us, Kagome. This is the world you created, with your wish, so that we could live a new life in happiness. This is the reason you became the Shikon no Tama, so to guard our lives forever." _

_Kagome frowned. "I'm inside the Shikon no Tama?" _

_Sango shrugged. "We've been waiting for a visit from you, but you've stayed away for so long we thought you would never come." A little boy tugged on Sango's kimono hem. He was rather cute, with silver hair and puppy ears like Inuyasha, but he had Sango's chocolate eyes for some reason. _

_Sango smiled ruefully as she picked up the boy. "Turns out, Miroku is sterile, and so…" a blush stained her cheeks, "Inuyasha donated…" _

_Kagome couldn't help but smile. "I would have never guessed… How did Miroku take that?" _

_"Actually, it was Miroku's idea to ask Inuyasha. He said he would rather it be him, if it had to be anyone. Inuyasha was skeptical, at first, and actually didn't know what he was agreeing to until after he said he would. When he found out what he would have to do, it was so funny—he fainted." Sango introduced the boy, "Kagome, meet my son, Kagome. Kagome, this is your aunt. She's the one who made our world." _

_The boy stared at Kagome for a long moment before beaming happily. "Hewwo auntie 'Gome! I'm 'Gome too." _

_Kagome hugged her shoulders. "I'm glad my wish came true…" she said quietly as Sango trotted away, down to the grassy plane that held a village filled with people. Next came Miroku, walking at his usual sedate pace. _

_"Hello, Lady Kagome," Miroku said as he came to stand beside her, overlooking this village. He grinned lecherously, but said nothing of the thoughts he had before she felt something squeezing her bottom. She scooted away and he sighed but didn't move to follow. "How are you?" _

_"Mentally unfit to be a part of society. I'm talking to dead people in my sleep. How do you think I am?" she couldn't help but laugh at his expression. "I'm better now than I have been in ten years." She amended. _

_"That's good," he leaned on his staff and for a few minutes they were quite, standing on the edge of what appeared to be a world Kagome made with her wish. She couldn't remember making a world, only a sense of desire for power. That was all she remembered. Miroku corrected her, however. "You wished to become the Shikon no Tama, to keep it out of Naraku's hands, Lady Kagome. Inuyasha and Shippou… they can access your dreams whereas we humans cannot, and they see your fears." _

_Kagome shook her head violently, willing this dream to stay a good one. It had been so very long since she'd had one of those. "It was power…" she breathed, her heart clenching tightly, "It was power that I sought, and power that I bought using my humanity as payment." _

_"No, Lady Kagome," Miroku chuckled, as if they were talking of the weather. "You still have your humanity… you may be endless, but you still have the power of choice. Because of your love for us, you gave up your mortality to protect this world that you made for the victims of what you are now, the victims of the Shikon no Tama, the victims of Naraku." _

_Kagome shook her head again. "It cannot be true!" _

_"You are a compassionate creature, Lady Kagome, and you have always been. You help those who are sick and in need. You guard us, here in your world, the world you created. Humans, demons, we live peacefully for the most part, but when something threatens us in our small village, none are afraid to pick up arms and fight, to protect you as much as us." _

_"But… this means you are alive, but I saw you die! All of you!" _

_"Lady Kagome," Miroku stood up straight, shrugging his shoulders, "we were dead, but now we are alive…" he pointed to a distant horizon, and she could see something that was flickering red and pink, not the sunset but more magical. "That is the barrier to the world in which you reside… This is the world you created…" he sighed. "Come visit us more often… we've waited so long for you…"_

Kagome's eyes opened slowly. She was, for once, not drenched in sweat, but she lay on the kitchen floor. It felt as if a huge, heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders. A man with cuts on his face looked down at her.

"Are you okay?" she heard the man say as he helped her to her feet. She saw that Shuichi was lying on the table, mostly undressed, but his wounds were almost gone completely.

"I think so…" she breathed before moving to examine Shuichi. His leg, though healed, probably would never be walked on straight again, but he was alive. "My brother… where's my brother?" she asked.

"I'm here, Aiko," Souta said quietly, leaving a dark corner of the kitchen. Kagome reached out and took her brother in her arms, and felt him return the embrace with fervor. "Thank you," he whispered.

Kagome frowned. 'Don't thank me yet… You may hate me in days to come… but I swear this Hanagi will pay.' She thought. Her eyes met the brown orbs of the black haired man and he nodded decisively.

"Kuwa, come on. We'll come back later." The two left, and Kagome knew there was one person she needed to talk to… very soon. It was strange, how something as simple as an evil creature like Hanagi could help her accept the ghosts, if indeed that was what she had done.

She still had to come to terms with the past if she was to be able to use her powers to their full potential though. She could feel they were barely being used. If he knew something, he could help. If he could help… maybe she _could_ heal him like he asked. But he would have to cooperate.

**This chapter has _also_ been read and approved by Ancient-Relic. Once more, thanks is completely deserved, Anci!! And I shall indeed take your recommendation! Don't worry about taking longer to get at this; it's completely understandable. Besides... I got more reviews while waiting... hehe...**

**Next chapter: Hiei let his face wash with the fierce raindrops, hating himself for a past he had no control over. More than anything, he wanted to kill her for making a fool of him. He wanted to break free of the chains that tied him to a chair with wheels. And yet, when the dog visits him with a proposition, one that will free him... he finds himself at a crossroad... can he do what is asked of him, even to regain independency?**


	17. Alone

**Title: Work-A-Holic  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own the greatness of Hiei, Kagome, or any others unless I made up their greatness, which kind of makes them un-great. So I don't want to own them either... un-great-ful creatures..._

WARNING: This chapter is not the "next chapter" you were promised. Sorry, and you won't be getting ANY chapters from Hiei's POV at this point. The story will remain mostly from Kagome's side.

Chapter seventeen:  
Alone

Over the next few days, Kagome had many things on her to-do list. Shuichi was fully healed, but couldn't stand on his own. His right leg gave out under him each time he tried to stand, and his right arm was just a useless lump of flesh.

She found herself feeling bad for him and couldn't bring herself to tell Souta about Shuichi's secret. When she saw how devoted her little brother was to the other man, it nearly sent her to tears because she was alone. She'd never enjoyed being alone, and Souta was the only one to view her tears in the last ten years. He knew at least a little bit how much it meant to her to be known.

He also knew that no one else knew her pain. It was due to this that she could not bring herself to talk. As Shuichi lay on the living room floor, Souta sat next to him, ready to do whatever the demon asked of him.

Kagome couldn't heal Shuichi's leg and arm completely until she fully harnessed the power she had become; until she accepted the ghosts completely. She didn't know how she could do that but she had suspicions that accepting her past would help. Part of her past seemed somehow connected to her paralyzed demon.

Talking to him was another thing she had to do over the next few days but it grew hard to do because she was afraid of him. That much she could admit, at least to herself. So all she could do was take him his food and leave as fast as possible to continue on doing other things, like job hunting, or checking up on Shuichi and Souta, or grocery shopping with money from her silent benefactor.

But she knew she couldn't wait forever, because she made a vow to herself to make Hanagi pay for what they did to Shuichi. And it became even clearer to Kagome that she couldn't wait when Souta approached her only a few days later. She was in her bedroom pinning her hair up when Souta came in.

The look on his face told her he hadn't come to chat about the weather. He didn't beat around the bush but rather jumped directly into his topic. "I want you to train me to do what you do."

She was stunned and didn't know how to respond. She knew exactly what he was asking but the words brought back memories instantly. They weren't as painful today as they had been at that time the week before, but neither were they incredibly pleasant.

_"How long have you been in here?" she asked quietly, and in the memory it seemed almost as if her voice was apprehensive to know the answer. The memory was a new one. The memories she had usually circled around the same ones with no alteration, so this memory was one that had remained forgotten for a long time. _

_Crimson orbs stared at her from the dark corner of the dingy underground chamber, light from the candles reflecting hauntingly off the irises. She couldn't see anything else of his face because he was mostly hidden in shadows, but those eyes—she could almost feel them burning her because he usually stared at her. _

_The memory was, if she remembered correctly, two months into her captivity in the slave pens. There used to be more people in the room with her and the other person, but they were all bought weeks ago. _

_She'd never heard the other person talk before and was always too afraid to go over by them. They seemed scary and unapproachable. She was surprised to hear him answer her, "I donno… I donno how many years… a lot."_

_He sounded uneducated; almost as though he'd grown up piecing together how to talk on his own. At the same time, he sounded her age. _

_She had fallen silent and some time later, the heavy iron door swung open, admitting several people into the room. One of them she could recognize as her slave master. Most of the others were people who reported to the slave master. Two of them were magnificently garbed men. _

_"This is our last male slave until we get a new shipment in." the slave master said, indicating Kagome's cell mate. "He's a very fast study if you decide you want him as a body guard, although I would recommend against that with this one. He's very unpredictable though I assume it is because of his fire and ice elements."_

_"And who is this lovely morsel?" one of the buyers asked, looking at Kagome. By then, Kagome was used to being looked at as produce in a market because essentially that was what she was. She was a slave, to be made ready for purchase. _

_"Ah, that one is not yet ready for sale." The slave master told the men regrettably. "She was recently acquired; she needs to be broken in and trained before I can send her out."_

_"Broken in, eh?" the second man asked, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "You have sold us untrained ones before; we would not mind another. We can train her."_

_"She is a miko and a feisty one at that. However, I assure you when she is trained you will be the first to be informed." _

_The first man boldly walked up to Kagome, grabbing the chain connecting to the eye at the center of the floor. With such a long chain, she could walk all around the room, but she couldn't escape out the door when it was opened as it was now. _

_"A miko, eh?" the man sniffed at Kagome before yanking her to her feet by dragging on her collar. All she wore was a filthy loincloth and the iron collar. Her hair was muddy and matted still, and her ordinarily tan skin was almost a brown-grey color. He wasn't sniffing her for a flowery scent; he was trying to smell the traces of power. "She smells ordinary," he said finally._

_It only took about two seconds for Kagome to get sick of being dragged about so she reached out placing her palms on the man's chest and pushed the power of the Shikon no Tama into the man. Bright pink energy burst from the man's shoulder blades and he collapsed in a pile of blood; dead almost instantly. _

_The second man looked outraged but he kept his senses and didn't attack her. A few clipped words were exchanged and the second man left without making a purchase. The slave master was furious at Kagome for the loss of a sale. He ranted and raved and beat her, all the while keeping out of her reach. He left with the dead body and his men shortly later._

_Kagome moved away from the pile of blood still on the floor and curled up. She was tired and lonely and still in a past world she didn't belong to. She must have fallen asleep because after that she could remember a warm hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. A voice breathed in her ear, "Girl, get up."_

_She was surprised as the memory progressed and she recalled seeing the boy's face for the first time. Her memory showed her Hiei, slightly bruised and dirty and somewhat younger looking than he looked now. Now he looked about twenty, and back then he looked about sixteen or seventeen. _

_He held a tray of food in his free hand and he set it in front of her as she sat up. A brief glance around the dimly lit chamber showed only one tray of food. They were punishing her, but the boy seemed to be giving her his food. "Eat," he said, his collar and chain clinking as he made himself comfortable in front of her. _

_Usually the soup was ice cold when it was served, but as she accepted the food with a grateful smile, she dipped a finger into the chilled liquid and used the power of the Shikon no Tama to heat it up. She offered to share the food and she and the boy split the hard bread and hot soup._

_When they had finished eating, the boy took the tray back and set it by the door, but he didn't retreat to his usual corner. Instead, he moved back by her and said, "I wanna know how ya do that." He pointed to the blood on the floor. _

"Aiko?" Souta called softly, waving a hand in front of Kagome's face. Kagome was startled by the abrupt change from memory to reality but she did her best not to show it. Now she remembered where Hiei knew her from.

"I'm sorry, Souta, what did you want?" she asked, trying to regain her bearings. She almost wanted to go down by Hiei right then and apologize to him for the game of master-and-slave that she had attempted with him—the game she would have played if the ghosts hadn't continued haunting her.

Did she _have_ to be so cold? Was everyone out to get her? Did everyone want her power?

"I said I want you to train me." He repeated.

Kagome looked at her brother and then at herself in the mirror. What she saw was a perfect, ice cold being who cared very little about the rest of the world. What if it was true, and she wasn't remembering her mistake right? What if they really were all alive again? What if Miroku was sterile and Inuyasha gave Sango and Miroku a child?

She watched as her own eyes softened rather unbidden at the thought of little Kagome, Sango and Miroku's half-breed child. A tiny smile tilted the corner of her mouth as her blue eyes sparkled like sapphires and somehow she felt younger than ever before. She turned to her beloved little brother and he was staring at her in awe.

"Aiko, you're so beautiful when you smile!" he told her.

"Thank you Souta," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek. "If you really want to do what I do… it's hard work. There is nothing you can do for Shuichi," Souta seemed a little hurt when she told him that, "but with hard work and a lot of help… maybe I…" he glanced at her hopefully. She squeezed his shoulder gently. "Maybe I can harness the power of the Shikon no Tama again and do something more…"

Did she really say 'again'? She was sure she did. Was there a time she had done so? Was there something she wasn't remembering? She shook herself mentally and added that to a growing pile of questions she had.

"I," Souta started hesitantly and she silently urged him to continue. "I still want to know. I still… I need to." He grabbed her hands in his and clasped them tightly, almost desperately. "I'm not asking entirely because of Shuichi, Kagome!" He had her full attention when he used her real name. "I've been thinking about it for a long time. Since you came back to us ten years ago, as the living Shikon no Tama, I wanted to be with you. I'm your brother, and I wouldn't care a single bit if I could share your burden! I still want to be with you forever, Kagome, and I'm totally sounding lame and incest but it's not! It's not, Kagome, because I love you!"

His voice rose as he spoke, and the more he spoke the more desperately he would cling to her hands. She opened her mouth, trying to formulate something to say to that in response but nothing came. How could she tell him that no matter what, she would live long past his death?

But there was a small pull inside of her, almost as though she were collecting her power together—only she wasn't doing it. Souta continued, almost near tears. "I love you so much, Kagome, and I can't lose you. You're just as important to me as Shuichi, but you can't die and I can. Why should you have to hurt so damn much? Why? Why should you be the only bearer of the jewel? Why can't someone ease that burden and why can't that someone be me?!"

He pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead. He was now crying and she was completely stunned. "You're my sister, Kagome, and I've been thinking for a long time about this. Please, Kagome, let me in with you. If I'm just like you, then you won't have to see me die, and I won't have to go to my grave worrying whether or not my sister loses her mind and destroys the world."

She felt that pull growing and realized what was happening. He was touching the Shikon no Tama and the Shikon no Tama granted wishes. But she realized it too late, because his next words sealed his own curse. "My one wish is to die when you die."

When that power inside her reached its peak and threw itself into his body, she saw the look on his face. She knew he hadn't expected that to happen because he collapsed to the ground, trying to breathe for several long minutes. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him.

When he collapsed in a heap and fell into unconsciousness, she sat down beside him to wait. At least he hadn't wished for the power of the Shikon, she thought, but she wondered if he understood what fate he just chose. While everyone around him would die, he would not. Shuichi's human body would age and then die, but Souta's body would stay alive and young.

The wish couldn't be undone, but she wished it could. She questioned why she had no control over the wish made. Shouldn't she have been able to control over whether or not it was granted? She supposed if he hadn't touched her, she may have had the option to grant it or not.

Did that mean she could never touch anyone? It made her want to cry because suddenly the world was so big and she was so alone. She lay on the floor beside her brother, wishing she knew what would happen next but everything happening to her life had become unpredictable. She didn't know what to do anymore because even when she did nothing, things happened.

**Chapter has been reviewed and approved of by ancient-relic. Thanks again and don't worry about it. You still got it back to me and that's all that really matters (oh, I suppose it matters that you liked it too...)! **

**Next chapter: I won't do a next chapter preview, because last time I did that, I hated the 'next chapter' because it screwed up the story and had to redo it. This chapter is the resulting next chapter. **

**THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT REVIEWS!! Sorry for the long wait. I put a lot into this chapter. Please review again!**


End file.
